Moments In Time
by fairytalefantasistx3
Summary: One hundred moments in Harry and Ginny's relationship. Some fluff, humour, silliness, angst and most importantly, romance. Will eventually be 100 oneshots. HP/GW galore.
1. Introduction

**A/N This is a story I'm writing for the 100 stories challenge. Each chapter will just be a short oneshot about a moment in their relationship, using the 100 prompts. They won't be going in any paticular order. Hope you enjoy!**

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1. Introduction

_(Ginny's POV)_

Oh. Dear.

I just made a complete idiot of myself _**again**_ in front of The Boy-Who-Lived. Harry Potter. Who is completely cute by the way.

To start with, I knocked over my porridge, which clattered on the floor and made a huge mess. I ducked under the table to pick the bowl up, my face the colour of my hair. I saw Mum discretely using her wand to clear it up, which saved me the extra embarrassment of having to get a cloth and wipe it off the floor. Harry pretended not to notice – unlike Ron, who burst out laughing, and felt the need to mention a number of times through breakfast how red my face was.

Then, when Harry asked if I was starting Hogwarts this year, I blushed even more and put my elbow in the butter dish. Once again, he pretended not to notice and no one else saw due to the fact that Percy had just walked in. I do love my brother. When he's not being a pompous idiot, that is. That was the end of the embarrassment for today, but something even worse will probably happen tomorrow at breakfast.

When Mum and Dad were talking about going to get Harry from those Muggles he lived with, I'd thought for hours about our first encounter. In my head, I didn't knock over bowls, blush permanently around him and put my elbow in butter. No, that certainly wasn't how I'd imagined it. I'd imagined me introducing myself to him coolly, and then he'd be completely amazed at how funny and witty I was at only eleven, and I'd make a wonderful first impression. Then by the end of the summer, he'd be totally in love with me, as I am with him.

And that wasn't even the worst time. The very first time he introduced himself politely to me, I just made a loud noise somewhere between a nervous laugh, a whimper and a stuttered 'hello'. Then ran away to my room. I didn't even introduce myself to him. Mum says it takes a long time to erase your opinion of somebody after a first impression. Which means Harry will see me for a long time as Ron's nervous little sister, who has a huge crush on him and can't string two words together. I do have a crush on him (as I'm sure every eleven year old girl does), but it's only him that I can't talk too. Ask any of my brothers, and they'll tell you I never shut up.

But in front of Harry, I turn into a babbling, clumsy wreck.

It's hard having a crush on the Boy-Who-Lived.

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**A/N Please review!**


	2. Love

**A/N So, here's number two. Remember, they're not going in chronological order. Enjoy, and please review!**

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2. Love

"Checkmate, Dad!" James said smugly, leaning back in his chair and running his hands through his hair.

"Unbelievable! I have no idea where the hell you got your talent for chess from son, but it wasn't from your Dad or your Mum!" exclaimed Harry, sinking down into the sofa next to his youngest son, Albus who had been watching the game with interest.

"Maybe Grandpa James was good at chess!" replied James excitedly. He had heard many stories about his Grandpa and his mischievous ways at Hogwarts, and admired his namesake for his daring streak that was certainly in young James' blood. Ginny had told Harry many times not to tell James too much of what Harry had learnt from Sirius and Remus about what the Marauders had done at Hogwarts. As she told Harry, she was sure he had enough ideas in his head without those from Hogwarts' most notorious prankers to date.

"Maybe James, maybe," muttered Harry absentmindedly. To this day, Harry still felt a twinge of sadness when either of his parents were mentioned. "You want a go against your old Dad Al?" he continued.

"No he does not!" Ginny said sternly before Albus could open his mouth. "I'm about to put Lily to bed, and then you're going up in ten minutes Al. You've got school tomorrow."

"Why do I have to go?" whined Albus. "We don't learn any magic, only maths and stupid things like that!"

"You have to go because you are a nine year old boy Al, and you need to learn how to write and do sums!"

"Fine. But I can't wait until Hogwarts. At least then, we'll be learn things that are worth knowing," Albus muttered.

Harry and Ginny smiled to each other. They had gone through this conversation many times with all of their three children.

Ginny turned away from the boys and looked at the small table where Lily was sat. She had her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth in a determined fashion and was drawing carefully with a red pen. When Ginny walked over and attempted to look over Lily's shoulder at what she was drawing, the young girl hastily covered the pink card with her arm.

"Come on, Lils, finish your drawing now and come up to bed," said Ginny.

"Itsnotadrawingitsavalentinescard," Lily garbled quietly and then ran up the stairs.

Ginny followed her, and walked into her daughter's room and shut the door.

"A Valentine's card Lils? That's so sweet. Who's the lucky boy?" said Ginny kindly.

Once she realised that her Mum wasn't going to tease her about the card, she said matter of factly "Oh, it's Ben. My boyfriend. It's Valentines Day tomorrow, so I thought I would make him a card. But I didn't want to tell anyone, because James and Al would make fun of me."

Of course, Ginny knew that it was Valentines Day the next day. She had bought Harry a stack of Quidditch books he had wanted and he was taking her out to dinner, then they were staying over night at a romantic hotel. Molly and Arthur were coming to look after the children, and they told them to go out and enjoy themselves.

"Aw, that's nice Lily," Lily said, giving her daughter a kiss on the forehead. Ginny knew that seven year olds' boyfriends were never really proper boyfriends, so she had no problem with her little girl having one.

"Yeah. He asked me what I wanted, and I told him I wanted a new set of crayons because mine were all broken, so I think he's giving me some tomorrow. I hope he got the thirty two pack," she said thoughtfully.

Ginny smiled and tried not to laugh.

"Yeah, Lils, I hope so too. Night night." Ginny began to walk out of the room.

"Mum?"

"Yes sweetie?" said Ginny, walking back over to Lily.

"How did you know you were in love with Daddy?" she asked quickly. Ginny smiled and sat down on Lily's bed.

"You just know Lils. When you can talk to them about anything, when you miss them if you're apart for more than a couple of hours, when their kiss makes you feel hypnotized – "

"Ew!" exclaimed Lily. "Kissing is just gross. I'm never going to kiss Ben." Ginny chuckled at this and pulled her daughter into a hug.

"When you're in love with someone Lily, you'll know. You'll feel it in your heart,"

"I don't think I'm in love with Ben. But I really want the crayons!" Lily said worriedly. Ginny laughed again at her daughter's expression.

"Mum!" moaned Lily. "Don't laugh! Love is a very serious matter!" she continued sternly. Ginny smiled at this but stopped laughing and gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead.

"Okay Lils, sorry. I think you should maybe tell Ben you don't want to be his girlfriend anymore," Ginny said.

"I guess," Lily sighed. "But I did really want those crayons."

Ginny smiled to herself, and walked out the room, turning off the light.

"Night Lils."

Ginny walked back down the stairs to find her husband pouring two glasses of wine. She walked up behind him and put her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Hey, Gin," he said quietly. "The boys are brushing their teeth. You were ages with Lily, what took so long?"

"We were talking about love," Ginny replied, smiling. "Your daughter has a boyfriend, and apparently he is getting her some crayons for Valentines Day but she's not sure if she loves him."

Harry laughed quietly, which earned him a playful hit on his chest from Ginny, who was still behind him with her arms wrapped around his body.

"Don't laugh!" she said, echoing her daughter's words. "Love is a very serious matter!"


	3. Light

3. Light

His voice was hoarse, his eyes were drooping and his head was pounding. His hand had been shaken so many times, he felt as if it could fall off, and he was sure his ribs were bruised from the numerous hugs he had received so far tonight.

Harry couldn't understand why why the people around him were so happy. Yes, Voldermort was gone, but so were many others. Fred. Tonks. Remus. Colin. Maybe many more he didn't even know about yet. The grief and pain inside his heart was terrible, and he thought it was all his fault. He had led those people to battle – Colin, who was just 16 had died, for Harry. It was so unnecessary; it could have been avoided. If only Colin had gone to the Hog's Head, his life could have been spared.

And Remus and Tonks – Teddy, much like Harry, would never even know his parents.

Then there was Fred. The Weasleys were among the only people not trying to congratulate Harry, or shake his hand. They were all sat together on the Gryffindor table. Molly had her head on Arthur's shoulder, tears streaming down her cheeks. Ron, Bill, Charlie, Percy and George were sat around their parents, all of them also crying. George was shaking and was leaning on Bill's shoulder. Harry felt terrible for inflicting this on them – it was all his fault, all of it. Harry might have ended the war, but Voldermort took so many down with him.

Harry felt like he was trapped in a dark tunnel. He couldn't get out of it; he couldn't stop blaming himself for all the terrible things that had happened. He felt as if nothing and no one could bring him back to reality, to help take away his grief and his guilt.

But then Harry turned slightly to the right. On Arthur's other side was a girl with brown eyes and flaming red hair. Harry's heart stopped still. He suddenly realised that he had a future. He realised that there was one person who could always make him better. He could see the end of the tunnel.

Harry could see the light.

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**A/N I know it's not long, sorry! Please review!  
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	4. Dark

4. Dark

"Come on, Harry," Ginny sighed. "We've got to go inside now."

The young couple were sat with their feet dangling into the cool lake, holding hands and gazing up at the stars.

"Let's just stay five more minutes. Please?" Harry widened his eyes, and stuck out his bottom lip like a young child asking for sweets.

Ginny leaned over with a devilish grin on her face and began to nibble on his lip slowly, then parted his lips with her own. She slipped her tongue into his mouth and Harry tenderly put his hands on her face. Neither of them knew how long they sat by the lake kissing, but neither of them wanted to leave anymore. Eventually, the two of them pulled slowly apart and Harry put his arm around Ginny's waist and pulled her close. They snuggled together and Ginny put her head on her boyfriend's shoulder. Both of them thought that they could stay that way forever.

"Seriously, Harry, we really need to get back up to the castle. It's late, I'm sure we've passed curfew," Ginny said again, although she made no attempt to pull away.

Harry didn't reply, but instead gave her a quick kiss on her head then attempted to pull her even closer. Ginny didn't protest, and they sat there at the side of the lake for several minutes longer in companionable silence. The sun had set long ago, and the sky was pitch black and dotted with sparkling stars.

"You know, Gin, the sparkle in those stars has nothing on your eyes," Harry said absent-mindedly.

"Aw, Harry," Ginny said smiling. "How beautifully – cheesy!"

"Oi!" Harry grinned. "It might be cheesy, but it's perfectly true. I could lose myself in your eyes."

"Come on, Harry. I thought you could come up with a better cliché than that," she teased.

"I could have, but your amazing beauty completely wiped everything intelligent from my mind."

"Ah. I do that to people," Ginny joked.

Harry just grinned and gave Ginny a gentle poke in the stomach.

"In all seriousness though Ginny. You really do have beautiful eyes," Harry said, looking right into them.

Ginny smiled. "You too, Harry. You too."

Harry stood up wordlessly, pulling Ginny with him.

"You want a cliché Ginny Weasley? How about we dance, in the moonlight, to no music?" asked Harry, pulling Ginny close.

"Oh, yes. That's a pretty good one," she said smirking. She put her arms around Harry's neck, and he put his around her waist. Ginny put her head on Harry's shoulder, and they began to dance.

_Cliché or not_ thought Ginny, _I love this._

They stood there, swaying in time with each other under the stars and the moon. Voldermort seemed far away, all their worries floated away while they held each other. Harry breathed in and he could smell Ginny's own unique scent, something he could never quite identify but it reminded him vaguely of flowers.

"You know why I love the dark Harry? And _don't_ laugh." whispered Ginny sternly. Her voice softened, and she continued. "You're hidden away from the rest of the world, nobody can see you, and you can't see them. It's just me and you, in our own world; living by our own rules and swaying to our own rhythm."

"When I'm with you Ginny, nobody can get to me, no one can break through. You wipe all my worries from my mind," Harry replied, still dancing with his arms around Ginny's waist.

"I love you Harry," Ginny whispered.

"I love you too Ginny. I love you now, at sixteen, and I'll love you in ten years time, in fifty years time, and the day I die and then beyond. I'll love you forever Ginny."

Harry pulled Ginny into a tender and passionate kiss. When they pulled away, she entwined her fingers with his and they walked slowly up to the castle.

Harry sighed as they walked through the front doors. They were coming in from the peaceful dark of the empty grounds and entering the harsh light of the entrance hall. People could see them again, and they weren't in their own world anymore. They were back to reality, where neither of them wanted to be.

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**A/N Review please!**


	5. Break Away

**A/N Sorry this took a while! I've been busy writing my other story, and I couldn't find time to update this one. But the next chapter should be up much quicker. **

**Please review!**

5. Break Away

Harry was sat at the kitchen table, glass of orange juice in hand when there was a tap on the window. He looked up to see a haughty-looking black and brown owl perched on the windowsill. Putting his glass down on the table, he walked over and opened the window. The owl fluttered in, and perched dangerously close to Harry's bowl of cereal, nearly knocking it to the floor.

"Hmm, where are you from then, old girl?" said Harry, stroking the owl's head.

The owl just blinked slowly in reply, and held out its leg. Harry untied the string and removed the letter, and the owl immediately flew back out of the window.

Harry wondered whom the letter was from. It wasn't any of his friends' owls, and it wasn't Molly and Arthur's so the letter was probably either from work, or it was for Ginny. Harry groaned to himself, hoping it wasn't from the Auror department. He had taken the day off to spend with Ginny – later that afternoon, she had a tryout for the Holyhead Harpies. Harry had no doubt in his mind that she would get the position, but Ginny had asked Harry to practice with her all morning so she was ready for her tryout. Then, he was going to be accompanying her to the Harpies' Quidditch pitch in Wales and sitting in the stands to watch.

He turned the letter over and looked at the red ink. Ginny Weasley. He breathed a sigh of relief, glad that there hadn't been an emergency that required him back in the office. Harry noticed for the first time that there was a small crest in the top right hand corner. He narrowed his eyes, confused, as he realised it was the logo of the Holyhead Harpies.

"Ginny!" shouted Harry. "There's a letter for you from the Harpies! Quick, come down!"

Even from upstairs, Harry could hear Ginny gasp. Less than two seconds later, a thundering to his right alerted him to the fact that his fiancée was coming down the stairs. Harry heard Ginny jump from the last step into the hall. She burst breathlessly through the door to the kitchen.

She had clearly been in the middle of getting dressed – she was dressed in a pair of jeans, socks and a bra.

"I hope you're not planning on going to the tryouts like that Ginny. I hear it's pretty cold down in Wales," Harry said, smirking.

"Oh shut up," Ginny replied, grabbing a cardigan that was on the sofa and hastily pulling it on. "Why are they writing to me? Have they changed their minds about letting me try out?" she asked worriedly.

"Well, maybe if we read the letter we might find out," teased Harry, holding it out to her.

Ginny gave him a fierce glare, before reaching out to take the letter. She slipped her finger under the flap of the envelope and took out the parchment. It was only one piece, and Harry could see that there was only about half a page of writing.

As Ginny hastily unfolded the sheet, Harry watched her intently. However, no emotion showed on her face as she quickly read the letter. When she'd finished, she folded it back up and turned to Harry.

"Well, I don't need to tryout. I'm already on the team," she said. She was trying to smile, but it was faltering and it didn't reach her eyes.

"But that's great news, Ginny! Well done!" Harry exclaimed happily, pulling her into a hug and giving her a quick kiss.

"I guess," replied Ginny.

Harry pulled away slowly and looked her in the eye. "Why so glum Gin?"

She wordlessly handed Harry the letter. Confused, he opened it and began to read.

_Dear Miss Weasley,_

_After a discussion with our marketing team, it has been decided that we would like to offer you a place on the Holyhead Harpies team as a chaser without tryout. Please send an owl back to confirm you are interested in the job, and we can arrange a meeting to negotiate pay._

_Sincerely, _

_Sara Bell,  
Manager of the Holyhead Harpies._

"Huh?" said Harry, still confused. "Why would the manager's discussion with the marketing team have any affect whatsoever on whether they offer you a job or not?"

"Don't you get it Harry?" sighed Ginny. "Think how good it'd be for ticket sales. Having the famous Harry Potter's fiancée on the team," she said bitterly.

"Oh." Harry steered Ginny over to the sofa and they both sank down into it. Harry put his arm around Ginny, and she continued.

"When I applied for the Harpies, I wanted to do something for _me_. Something that didn't matter if my boyfriend was the boy-who-lived. Don't get me wrong, Harry, I wouldn't change anything about you for the world, but sometimes, I feel like I'm not Ginny Weasley. I'm just Harry Potter's Fiancée. I wanted to break away from that, and make my own name. You know I won't be content just being in your shadow all my life Harry. I want to do my own thing, do something that'll make people think of me as Ginny. Not just your girlfriend."

Harry pulled her closer, and kissed her forehead. He began to speak, but Ginny wasn't done yet.

"Even though they didn't say it, I know the Harpies just wanted me for your celebrity name. They don't even care if I'm a good player, they don't even want to see me. Can you believe that? Some people wouldn't be bothered, they'd just be glad to get on the team. But I do care. I want to earn my place, Harry, not have it handed to me."

Harry waited for a moment to be sure that this time she had actually finished. He put his finger under her chin and lifted her face so their eyes met.

"You know, Ginny, you are such an incredible person. Most people would just take the job, glad to get a place. If you want to tryout, that's what you'll do. But they'll see what an amazing player you are, and you'll still get a place on the team. So, why don't you reply to that letter, and tell them you want to tryout, whether it's necessary or not. And then, if I were you I'd go get dressed. We've got some Quidditch practice to do."

Ginny smiled, and gave Harry a soft kiss.

"I love you Harry, you know that right?"

"Oh, I know it. I love you too Ginny. Get out onto that Quidditch pitch, and show the Harpies that Ginny Weasley has got game."

"I will Harry, don't worry. But then I'll be the famous one, and you'll just be Ginny Weasley's good looking boyfriend who used to be famous, back in the day," she teased.

"I'm sure I will. You're far more deserving of a famous status than me Ginny. Now go and get freaking dressed before you freeze to death."


	6. Heaven

**A/N This is taking place halfway through Ginny and Harry's seventh year at Hogwarts (which, for the purposes of my story, Harry, Ron and Hermione decided to come back for after Voldermort's downfall). And also, I've decided that seventh years have private dorms. It's my story, after all. Enjoy!**

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6. Heaven

I grinned as my drooping eyes fell on the figure next to me. We were lain on our side, my arm around Ginny's sleeping body, pulling her as close to my chest as I could. The curves of our bodies fit perfectly together, almost as if they were made as one, but broken apart. Sheets were strewn all over the bedroom floor and nothing was covering our naked bodies. The room was dark, but silvery moonlight was streaming through the gap in the curtains.

I listened to Ginny's slow and even breathing as she slept, her beautiful red hair fanned out on the pillow. One strand was separated from the rest and it was in front of my face, tickling my nose. I could smell the familiar scent of the shampoo and as I inhaled deeply, breathing it in.

As close together as we were, there was still little room either side of us. We were on the single bed in my private dormitory, and the door was firmly locked and there was a silencing charm cast on the room – Ron was only on the other side of a thin wall, and I'm sure he wouldn't be too pleased about what had just happened between his best mate and seventeen years old little sister. As happy as the two of us were about it, I don't think he'd feel the same.

A few minutes earlier, we had become one for the first time. I was as close to Ginny as possible. It was only for a few moments, as it was both of our first times, but those few minutes were perfect. They were heaven.

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**A/N I know that was really short, and the A/Ns are probably longer than the chapter, but I didn't want to drag it out. Review please!**


	7. Innocence

**A/N Because the last chapter was so short, I thought I'd better give you another one today. Two updates in two days :) And I kind of didn't stay too close to the prompt on this one, but I just had the idea when I thought of innocence. Enjoy!**

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7. Innocence

"Hermione!" I gasped. "I couldn't possibly do that!"

Hermione rolled her eyes at me. "Of course you can," she scoffed.

"How would you know anything about it?" I challenged, a little meanly. "You haven't exactly had much experience, except for Viktor. And it was never particularly hard to get him to notice you! If anything, it was the other way around."

"Viktor is… nice, isn't he," Hermione sighed, distracted. I was glad for the change of subject and tried to distract her further from our original topic.

"Yeah, if you like that type of guy. You know, big, tough, clever but not the sharpest crayon in the box. Which you do, right?"

"I guess," Hermione replied half-heartedly.

"I knew you didn't like him!" I exclaimed triumphantly.

"Keep your voice down!" shushed Hermione. I looked around the empty common room, eyebrows raised. "Someone upstairs might hear. Anyway, I never said I didn't like Viktor."

"Well, you don't like him, _in that way_," I persisted.

"I – I don't really… no, I don't," she sighed. "I do like him, I really do. But there's no… spark. When he kissed me goodnight just now after the Yul-"

"What!" I interrupted. "He kissed you! Details please, Mione, details!"

"It was nice, I suppose. It was only for a second or two. But as I said, I didn't feel anything. No spark, no fireworks. And I realised afterwards that I had my eyes open. I read in a book that if you don't close your eyes when you're kissing, it means you're not really into it."

"So is there someone else?" I asked eagerly.

"Well…"

"Oh. My. God. I knew it, we all knew it - it's Ron, isn't it!"

"Don't tell anyone, but yeah, it is," she said blushing.

"I don't need to tell anyone," I snorted. "Everyone knows the two of you have liked each other since your second year! Except possibly Viktor. I assume he doesn't know, or I doubt he'd be so enthusiastic to escort 'Her-mow-ninny to the Vule Vall', would he?" I teased.

Hermione scowled and ignored the comment about Victor. "Ron doesn't like me! He didn't even think of asking me to the ball until he realised that he really needed a date, and even then, he just took it for granted that I wouldn't already have a date!"

"Open your eyes, Hermione!" I said exasperatedly. "Of course he likes you! I thought you were smart?"

"Well… I guess maybe he does. Maybe. But you know Ronald; he'll never admit it, even if he does like me as more than a best friend. Which I doubt," she added quickly. "Anyway, let's not get distracted Ginny!"

I could tell that Hermione, like myself, wanted to change the subject from herself and the boy she liked.

"As I was saying," she continued. "You need to date some other people. Not forgetting about Harry, but putting him to the side, for now at least. You're a popular girl Ginny. I'm sure plenty of guys would be happy to go out with you."

I fiddled with the bow on my dress. I had been happy for the distraction from Harry when we were talking about Hermione. I had forgotten for a moment the look on his face when he saw Cho Chang dancing with Cedric. I never did like her. The looks on Harry's face were etched into my mind. If only he had been looking at me that way while I was dancing with Neville. I'm sure the only way Harry was looking at me was with sympathy, due to the amount of times Neville stepped on my foot.

"Maybe they would, Hermione, but they wouldn't be Harry," I said sadly.

"But maybe if you go out with someone else, Harry will be jealous and realise how amazing you are Ginny! I've heard that happens. It was in that book I mentioned before, _Dating for the Modern Witch. _I got it out from the library when Viktor asked me to the ball."

I rolled my eyes. Only Hermione would try tolearn how to date from a book.

"They have books like that in the school library?" I said, surprised.

"Oh, yeah. They have all sorts. I came across this one book, I'm not sure the school knew what was in it when they got it, but it was rather… graphic."

"I hope you didn't get that one out Hermione. You've checked out every other book in there, I wouldn't be surprised if you wanted to have your name in all of them. Maybe there's a record or something?"

I admit it, I was trying to steer the conversation away from me again. But, hey, it was working.

"No, I didn't actually," Hermione replied scathingly. "And stop trying to change the subject!"

Damn. Busted.

"I wasn't!" I said innocently.

"So, who are you going to ask out then?" Hermione asked quickly before I could continue.

"Nobody!"

"Come on, Ginny. There must be some other guy who you have a teensy weency crush on!"

"Nope," I denied truthfully. "Only Harry. It's always been Harry."

"You don't have to be completely and utterly in love with him Ginny, like you are with Harry and I am with Ron."

She opened her mouth again quickly before I could say anything in response to her last statement. "You're not changing the subject again. If you're not going to come up with someone yourself, I guess I'll pick for you. You were talking to a dark-haired boy at the ball. He seemed pretty nice. What was his name?"

I paused for a moment. Michael was okay. He was nice, funny and he seemed pretty fun. He wasn't terrible looking either. But he wasn't Harry.

"Michael Corner," I replied after a moment. "I guess he's alright. I hardly know him though, I only met him tonight!"

"Well, get to know him then," Hermione said simply.

"Don't you think this is a little… mean?" I said apprehensively. "I'm basically using him, just so I can try forget about Harry for a while. Not that I think it'll work."

"You won't be using him! You'll probably grow quite…" Hermione struggled to find the correct words. "… fond of him?"

I snorted. "Maybe I will, maybe I won't. I guess there's only one way to find out though," I sighed.

"I knew you'd come around," beamed Hermione. "Harry will love you before you know it, you just need to be yourself around him. And make him a little jealous too." She grinned mischievously, a look I seldom saw on Hermione's face.

"You know what this is Hermione?" I said as I pulled myself out of the sofa by the fire that we were sat on. "Foul play."

"Yeah, but all's fair in love and war!" Hermione replied in a sing-song voice, which seemd strange to me as there was no war involved. Not yet, anyway.

I threw a cushion at her and we started to walk up the stairs to the dormitories.

"Night, Mione," I whispered as I reached the door to the third year dormitories.

"Night."

She continued up the stairs as I entered the dark dorm. My roommates were already asleep, as nobody had invited any of them had been to the ball. I had already promised them a detailed account of the evening, which I'm sure I would be telling them in the morning. I felt my way to my bed, stubbing my toe on someone's bedside table as I went.

I sank down onto the mattress, still in my dress, and looked up at the ceiling.

_I've not given up on Harry, _I thought. _I'm just not as naïve and innocent anymore. I know I'll get nowhere pining after him. Sometimes, you have to play a little dirty._

Hermione was right. I'm sure I can teach myself to be rather, erm, fond of Michael.


	8. Drive

**A/N I'm afraid I'm going to have to stop responding personally to your reviews, due to the fact that I'm now going to be updating almost daily, and to reply to all my reviews would take forever. But please keep reviewing, I read all of them and I really appreciate them all.**

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8. Drive

"GINNY! Put your foot on the brake!" screamed Harry, holding tightly on to the edges of his seat, his knuckles turning white.

"God, Harry, relax," said Ginny happily, making no attempt to stop the car. "I'm doing fine. Just because you like to drive at thirty miles per hour wherever you are, doesn't mean we all have too. You're a hazard to the roads, really, driving that slowly. You get in people's way, and someone could be hurt when they try to take over – "

"GINNY! Watch out for the – "

"Whoopsie." Ginny giggled. "That was a close one."

Harry had been thrown sideways in his seat during Ginny's swerve to avoid the road sign, and his face was pale as he tried to sit upright again.

"This is worse than the Knight Bus," mumbled Harry bitterly. "Why don't you let me drive? My leg's fine, I swear!"

"Tell me, Harry dear – how on earth would you drive a car with a cast on your leg?"

Harry cursed the fact that his daughter had left her new cauldron at the top of the stairs.

"I'm the savior of the Wizarding World, I'm sure I could find a way."

"I know you really want something when you bring the whole saving the world thing into it. I guess you could use your other leg. But why the hell won't you just let me drive, I'm perfectly capable. I got my license, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did, but I'm not sure how. I'm sure you took after your brother in using a good ol' Confundus," Harry replied suspiciously, still grabbing the sides of his seat.

Ginny blushed and for once, gave the road her full attention.

"Now, pull over and let me drive," he continued.

Ginny obediently slowed down where she was and started to move to the side of the road.

"Not here!" Harry yelled.

"You told me to pull over!"

"Yeah, but I thought you'd understand that I meant a place where we wouldn't be killed," Harry said, slightly manically.

Ginny looked at Harry's panic stricken face as she carried on driving, and laughed.

"Deep breaths Harry, deep breaths."

Ginny demonstrated exaggeratedly, and Harry glared at her.

"Right, pull over here."

"Fine. But I don't see what's so different about here than the place I picked," she said as she stopped the car.

Harry chose not to reply, and got cautiously out of the car, taking care not to make his broken leg even worse. He slammed the door behind him and began to limp over to the other side of the little red Ford. Ginny grinned at Harry cheekily as they passed in front of the bonnet. Harry sat down at the driver's seat and Ginny in the passenger's, Harry rather happier than he had been previously, Ginny slightly disgruntled.

"Okay, everything is fine, I can just use my left foot," Harry said calmly, more to himself than Ginny.

He turned the key, put the car in gear and put his left foot carefully on the accelerator. He pulled out into the busy road after waiting for several minutes for an opening in the stream of cars that he deemed long enough, and began to drive.

The two of them sat there for a few moments in silence, Ginny biting her lip in an attempt not to speak. After a particularly loud honk, however, she seemed to give in.

"Harry. There are a bunch of cars behind us."

"I know that, thanks," he snarled uncharacteristically, gritting his teeth.

"Oh. Well why are you still going at thirty miles per hour in a seventy zone then?"

"The speed limit is a guideline, not a requirement. I just like to drive on at a nice, leisurely pace."

"Halfway down a busy motorway isn't exactly a time for nice, leisurely paces Harry."

"Fine, I'll speed up then," he yelled.

He put his uninjured foot down hard on the accelerator, jolting the car forwards. The car quickly accelerated, and they were soon past the speed limit. This time, it was Ginny holding onto her seat.

"There! Like that? Fast enough for you?" Harry shouted.

"Harry, slow down a little! I'm all for a spot of fast driving – "

"Yeah, I noticed," interrupted Harry.

Ginny ignored him. " – but I think this is a little too much."

Harry's reply was drowned out, however, by the noise of a loud siren behind them. Harry's face turned white, and he pulled over. The police car stopped in front of them, and an officer walked over to Harry and Ginny's car. He tapped on Harry's window, which Harry wound down.

"Yes, officer?" Harry said innocently.

"Sir, you were exceeding the limit by about twenty miles an hour. Did you have any idea how fast you were going? I'm afraid I'll have to give you a ticket."

The officer's eyes fell on Ginny, who was still clutching the sides of her seat.

"You must have scared your poor wife witless!"

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**A/N I know literally nothing about driving, so I'm sorry if I got something wrong. Please review!**


	9. Breathe Again

**A/N As in a previous chapter, this is set in Harry and Ginny's seventh year, which they both decided to return for. Please review :)**

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9. Breathe Again

"Come on, Ginny!" Harry urged me, keeping a tight hold of my hand as he pulled me down the dark corridor. All of the torches that usually lit the hall were extinguished, and Harry and I often tripped over each other as we ran.

I giggled breathlessly. I hadn't done anything like this in a long time, and I didn't realise how much I'd missed it.

"Wait… Harry… one minute," I panted, clutching the stitch in my side, still giggling.

"Ginny, shut up! You're gonna get us caught!" laughed Harry, trying to pull me along.

"Nah, I won't. You know how slow Filch is, he's probably still down on the fifth floor."

"I can't believe you convinced me to do that Ginny," Harry said, shaking his head disbelievingly. "You really do have a large dose of Weasley mischief in your blood."

"Oh, I know Harry, I know," I replied, grinning cheekily.

"And thanks for pulling me out of the common room before I could get the invisibility cloak Ginny, that was real helpful," Harry moaned, rolling his eyes.

"Harry, I managed for years without that cloak. Don't be a wuss!" I teased.

"Oy! I'm not a wuss! I think I proved that tonight Miss Weasley."

Harry gave up on trying to pull me along, and he sat down on the hard stone floor, pulling me down next to him. I complied happily and snuggled up close to him. It was two o'clock on what promised to be a freezing winter morning, and I was only wearing my thin pyjamas. Harry put his arm around me.

"Don't you think we're a little old for being chased around Hogwarts by Filch now Ginny?"

"On the contrary, Mr Potter, I think we're only just old enough to enjoy the benefits," I whispered mischievously.

Harry raised his eyebrows, and I answered his silent question with a passionate kiss. I buried my hands in his unruly jet-black hair and lost myself in our embrace. Finally, we were free to behave like couples at Hogwarts had done for generations before us.

I pulled away reluctantly as I heard a soft hissing behind us.

"Ginny, don't stop," mumbled Harry almost incoherently.

"Erm, I think we'd better. We have company."

Harry's head snapped around, finally returning to reality, and he groaned as he saw Mrs Norris. We watched silently as she turned and ran up the corridor. As she turned out of sight, Harry nudged me.

"Ginny?" he whispered.

"Yeah?"

"RUN!"

He pulled me to my feet and we sprinted off down the corridor, in the opposite direction of Mrs Norris. Once again, I was giggling even though I couldn't see anything remotely humorous about our situation. I glanced at Harry, who was also chuckling, a sparkle in his perfect green eyes.

We ran breathlessly until we reached the common room, not once looking around to see if Filch was behind us. Harry hastily gabbled the password and the Fat Lady tutted quietly, giving us a reproachful look before swinging open. Harry scrambled through, and offered me his hand; the only time he'd ever dared to try and help me up. I hesitantly took it and followed him through the portrait hole.

The moment we were both inside the common room with the portrait swung firmly shut behind us, we collapsed onto the floor, Harry on top of me. Both of us were panting and laughing in equal amounts. After just a couple of seconds, Harry grinned and leaned down from his position above me to kiss me once again.

I only kissed him for a split second before having to reluctantly pull away.

I panted heavily for a moment before I could find a ragged breath with which to speak.

"As much as I want to continue our activities from earlier Harry, just give me a moment so I can start to breathe again."

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**A/N Your interpretations as to what the two of them had been doing :)**


	10. Memory

**A/N This will, unfortunately, probably be my last chapter for a week or so. I'm going away, and I'm not sure whether there will be an internet connection. Enjoy the chapter :)  
**

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10. Memory

"Stupefy!" I snarled, pointing my wand towards the masked figure. He crumpled immediately and I kicked his body roughly to the side. I stepped back and took a moment to breathe and clutch the stitch in my side.

In the confusion and chaos of the battle, I hadn't been taking notice of where I was going. I took a split-second to look around at my surroundings and I recognised the dark hallway as the charms corridor. I was standing in front of Professor Flitwick's office - or what used to be his office. The Death Eater I had been fighting only moments earlier had blasted the door and everything inside the office to pieces with a badly aimed curse in my direction.

A little further down the corridor, Flitwick and a masked Death Eater were locked in a ferocious duel. When the Death Eater I had been fighting had destroyed Flitwick's office, I could see Flitwick out of the corner of my eye. He paused for a split-second and whimpered slightly, before setting his features in a look of renewed determination and continued to fight.

There were numerous bodies on the hard stone floor. Although I couldn't bring myself to look into the faces of any of the victims, the majority of them appeared to be Death Eaters.

I had just begun to run down the corridor when I stopped dead in my tracks.

I could feel it before I could see it. My heart felt like it was being frozen and the minimal light that was still present seemed to dim. I knew it was coming closer as the cold spread from my heart through my entire body, to the ends of my fingertips and my toes. All too soon, the black figure swept around the corner into the corridor I was standing in.

I took a deep breath and pointed my wand at the Dementor. The nearer it came to me, the more warmth I could feel being sucked from my body. I searched my mind desperately for a happy memory. The past few months at Hogwarts had been so miserable, the word 'happy' seemed foreign to me. The last time I had been happy in the slightest was with Harry. I thought back to the summer, specifically to Harry's seventeenth birthday. That day, we kissed like we've never kissed before. It was a mind-blowing, wonderful, amazingly passionate kiss, and it's one I'll never, _ever_ forget.

I focused on Harry, and how his lips felt, as I opened my mouth and yelled the spell.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Instead of the bold, silver horse I had hoped for, a wisp of faint, grey mist shot from my wand, and hovered in the air. The Dementor stopped for a split second before continuing to glide quickly towards me as the mist flickered, before disappearing altogether.

I almost collapsed on the floor as the Dementor drew closer, and he was soon only a foot away.

"Why?" I muttered feebly to myself. "Why? That was happy, I was happy!"

As soon as I had said the words, I began to doubt them. Was I _really_ happy that day? No. I wasn't.

Even as I was kissing Harry with every breath I had, with his arms tight around me, I wasn't happy. Why would I be? He was leaving, and I didn't know when I was going to see him again.

I searched desperately once more for a memory that I remembered even more clearly than that one, one where I was happier than I'd ever been in my life. My thoughts returned to Harry, and I suddenly realised. I realised what my happiest memory was.

Our very first kiss, in the common room. The kiss that turned my life around, for better or for worse.

"Expecto Patonum!" I yelled again, with as much strength as I could muster.

A large, bright, silver horse galloped towards the Dementor, which immediately disappeared from sight. I slid down the wall that I hadn't realised until now I had backed against and sat down on the floor, the heat flooding back into my body.

"Well done Miss Weasley, well done indeed," squeaked a high voice beside me, almost as if I had just accomplished a particularly difficult spell in class.

I looked up and saw the short and squat form of Professor Flitwick standing next to me. Evidently, he had defeated the Death Eater, who I could see slumped against the legs of a suit of armour.

"Thank you, Professor." I said weakly.

He smiled at me. "Now, let's go kick some more Death Eater ass, hmm?"

For the first time in the battle, I laughed. He smiled again, before jogging off down the corridor, casting a spell at a stirring Death Eater as he went.

I got up slowly to my feet and followed him. As I turned the corner at the end of the corridor, I passed Percy, who shot a body-bind at a Death Eater before turning to me.

"Ginny! What are you doing here! Get back to the Room of Requirement, you're too young to fight."

"I need to fight," I said quietly. "We need to finish this war," I continued to myself as I ran past Percy. "And then we can make more memories."

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**A/N I know the ending was a bit lame, but I hope the rest of the chapter was ok! Please review :)**


	11. Do Not Disturb

**A/N So, I've been trying to be all nice and organised and do all the prompts in the right order, but I've decided that I'm just going to be a rebel and do them randomly :)**

**If you'd like to see the list of prompts in order to request one for me to do now, PM me and I'll send it to you.**

**Anyway, now that's over with, here's the next chapter! Please review!**

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11. Do Not Disturb

The lobby was luxurious, to say the least. The walls were a deep red colour, although they were mostly hidden by expensive paintings. The colour of the soft carpet matched that of the walls, and a number of rugs, armchairs, sofas and tables were placed throughout the lobby. The ceiling was made of marble, and a huge golden chandelier was hung in the centre of the room, adorned with jewels and diamonds. On the far wall were several lifts, and on the wall nearest the revolving doors that were the entrance to the hotel was a long marble desk.

The décor, however, was nothing compared to the people scattered throughout the lobby. There were more than fifty wizards, witches, children and even a few goblins - and all of them were obviously not short of a galleon or two. A pair of smug-looking ten year old girls were waving two wands studded in multi-coloured jewels and stones at their cooing parents. A middle-aged man scooped a handful of powder from an exquisite jar on the mantelpiece of a grand fireplace and threw it into the fire, several large suitcases in hand, before stepping into the flames and disappearing from sight. Two snobbish old wizards sat on a sofa directly underneath the chandelier were complaining loudly about the lack of clarity in the diamonds.

The newest additions to the lobby came in the form of a young witch and wizard. The wizard had sandy-coloured hair with abnormally large ears, and the witch had a messy crop of black hair and huge blue eyes. The two of them were clutching each other's hands and obviously trying to stifle a laugh as they walked across the room towards the desk. Several other people lifted their heads to inspect the latest arrivals, and many wrinkled their noses at the less than glamorous couple, before returning to their conversations.

"Merlin, honey! How much did you pay for this place?" whispered the raven-haired witch incredulously.

"Only the best for my Gertrude," replied the wizard, winking at his companion as he lead her to the desk.

"Hello Sir, welcome to the Phoenix Feather hotel in central Wizarding New York. How may I help you?" asked the woman at the reception desk, a smile plastered on her face.

"I'm here to check into my room, we've already paid. It's the Honeymoon Suite, I believe, for a Mr Hugh Jass," the wizard said loudly, "and his wife Gertrude."

The witch's smile became a disapproving frown as she looked at the couple, who she obviously thought were playing some practical joke. She narrowed her eyes before quickly checking a long scroll in front of her. She raised her eyebrows as she found the couple's names.

"Of course, Mr… Jass," she said disbelievingly. "If you'll just sign these papers and I can give you the keys."

"Of course," replied the wizard, pulling out his wand and tapping it a few times on the pieces of paper in front of him. The forms were instantly filled in as the wand passed over them.

"That's wonderful. Here are your keys," she said bemusedly, handing each of them a small golden key. "Have a wonderful honeymoon, Mr and Mrs Jass."

"Oh, I'm sure we will. Thanks very much."

The wizard handed a sickle to the witch behind the desk, who pocketed it with a smile. The wizard grabbed his own and his wife's suitcase and dragged them towards the lifts. His wife put her arms around his waist as they walked. She craned her neck so she could reach his ear.

"Well, Mr Jass. You better hurry up and get that huge ass into our room before I start undressing you here," she whispered devilishly into his ear.

"Well, _Gertrude, _as much as I love the new look, I'd prefer to have my actual wife undress me, if that's okay with you. Y'know, the incredibly sexy one with the red hair?"

"I think I know the one." The witch looked at her watch. "I think she'll be returning in… thirty seconds?"

The wizard's eyes widened and he pulled the witch towards the lift and began to hammer on the button. Fortunately, the lift _pinged_ almost immediately and the doors slid open. The two of them hurried inside.

Even before the doors had shut completely, the effects of the Polyjuice Potion were beginning to wear off. Before the lift had begun to move, a red haired young woman and a raven haired young man stood in the place of Mr and Mrs Hugh Jass.

"Finally, Harry, we're back to normal. Remind me again why we did that?" sighed the woman as the lift shot upwards.

"Ginny! I've told you – this is our honeymoon. I didn't want tons of people clamouring all around us and asking for autographs. All I need is you, me and a hotel room all to ourselves."

He moved towards Ginny and put his arms around her, pulling her in closer.

"That does sound – "

Ginny was cut off as Harry leaned in to kiss her. She happily obliged and began to kiss him back, putting her arms around her neck. Harry's hands moved down towards Ginny's bum and he slowly lifted her off her feet. She wrapped her feet around Harry's waist and wrapped her arms tighter around him, still kissing him passionately.

The two of them were brought back to their senses as the lift made a loud pinging noise, alerting them to the fact that they had reached their floor.

They stopped kissing for a moment, but Ginny kept her legs wrapped tightly around Harry. He carried her easily out of the lift, kissing her occasionally, holding the kiss longer every time until they were pausing for minutes at a time before reaching their suite. When they reached the door, Harry wordlessly took the key out of his back pocket, keeping his eyes fixed on Ginny. He hurriedly turned it in the lock and opened the door.

Before entering the door, Harry swung Ginny around so she was in his arms, earning a small squeal from Ginny. He grinned as he walked into the suite.

Although the suite was beautiful, the two of them didn't take a moment to admire the décor. Harry began to walk over to the open door that led into the bedroom.

"Wait, Harry," said Ginny breathlessly, even though there had been little work on her part up to now. "Take me back over to the door."

Harry looked confused, but did as she asked. As they reached it, she pulled on the handle and opened the door a crack. She reached her arm out, and felt around for the door handle on the other side. Once she found it, she pulled off the sign that hung on it and turned it the other way around.

"What did you do?" asked Harry, raising his eyebrows as he turned around to walk back over to the bedroom.

"Turned the door sign around," Ginny replied simply. "I thought it was pretty necessary."

"Turned it around so that it said what, exactly?"

"Do not disturb."


	12. Family

**A/N This isn't really that related to the prompt, but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway. Please review!**

12. Family

"Come on, Ginny dear. At least let me help."

"For the millionth time, no Mum! I'm doing it on my own," Ginny replied, slapping her mother's hands away from the turkey.

It was Christmas Day and the extended Weasley family had come to Harry and Ginny's family home for Christmas dinner for the first time. Up to this point, Christmas had always been spent at the Burrow and Molly Weasley had been the cook. However, Ginny had insisted that this year, she wanted to host dinner.

This hadn't been met well by Molly.

"But I _always _cook the turkey Ginny, and I know exactly how to do it. When you had this idea of having Christmas here, I didn't realise you meant you were doing all the cooking!" Molly argued.

"I just want to cook for my family!"

"Meaning you want to _prove_ that you can cook?"

"Hey!" Ginny protested. "That's not fair. I can cook."

"Fine, fine," Mrs Weasley sighed. "I can see you're determined to do this alone Ginny –"

"Wow, no shit, Sherlock," Ginny murmured under her breath.

"Ginevra! Mind your language!" scolded Molly, pointing her finger at Ginny.

"I will Mum, if you get out of my kitchen so I can start to prepare this Dinner. It's ten o'clock and I want to be able to feed the herd – " Ginny stopped at the disapproving look her mother shot her. " – I mean, family, before four o'clock in the afternoon, okay?"

"Well, I tried," sighed Molly as she walked towards the door. "Good luck, Ginny dear."

"Honestly," Ginny muttered to herself as she began to pull various pots and pans out of the cupboards forcefully, "I can make it on my own. It's only one meal, how hard can it be?"

"Hey, sis," said Ron happily as he walked into the kitchen. It was twelve o'clock, and two hours since Ginny had begun to prepare the dinner. "We were all wondering when we were gonna get some food!"

Ron was lucky that Ginny was using her wand and not sharp kitchen knives to chop the vegetables.

"Buggar off and leave me alone," snarled Ginny in reply, using her wand to levitate vegetables from a chopping board into a pan.

"Woah. Why the tone?" asked Ron playfully, unfazed by his younger sister's unfriendliness.

"Why? You ask why? Well, I'll tell you – I need five hands to chop all these bloody vegetables, the cooking charm I tried on the turkey that dear, sweet Georgey told me about was a fake – what a hilarious fucking joke - and I can't find the right one in any of these spell-books, so I had to do it the Muggle way and use the oven that Harry insisted we should buy, and it's taking forever, I still haven't peeled the potatoes and to top it all off, YOU JUST CAME IN THE ROOM!"

At the end of Ginny's outburst, her cheeks were bright red and due to the fact that she hadn't paused for breath, her voice was hoarse.

"All of those things could be solved by just letting Mum help. Hell, even I could be a help and you know what I'm like in the kitchen."

"I don't want any help! I can handle it on my own!"

"Gin, look in the mirror." Ron pointed at a small mirror that was hanging on the wall near the small kitchen table. "That's a face of someone who clearly is not handling everything on their own."

"Ron, you look in the mirror," Ginny replied without taking her eyes from Ron. "That's a face that's going to have huge flapping Bat-Bogeys on it if you don't GET THE HELL OUT OF MY KITCHEN!"

Ron disappeared without another word.

"Honey?" said a voice tentatively, opening the door slowly.

Ginny gritted her teeth. "Yes, Harry?"

It was now one o'clock, and even though Ginny had found a spell for the turkey, she was still working frantically to chop and cook basically everything else.

"I know you wanted to prepare dinner all on your own, and you've done a great job so far, but would you like me to help?"

Ginny breathed in and then out again slowly, trying to stop herself from poking the carrots she was holding into her husband's eyes.

"No thanks, Harry. I'm fine on my own."

"I know, Ron told me you'd said that to him, but I just thought you could do with someone to help you chop, and stir. I'd just be your assistant. You can boss me around…"

Harry grinned as he watched Ginny's expression change. She couldn't resist having someone to boss about.

"All the professionals have assistants, Ginny," Harry continued quickly.

"Oh, fine. Get your wand out and start to chop these carrots."

Harry obediently did as he was instructed.

"But I'm only letting you help," she continued, "because I want to get this dinner over with so they'll all go home!"

"You haven't even had to endure all the screaming toddlers, Ginny. As much as I love children, they do get a little excited about Christmas," Harry said as he tapped the carrots with his wand, which immediately chopped into small pieces.

"A _bit_?" snorted Ginny. "Last night, our sons and daughter were practically bouncing off the walls."

Harry grimaced as he thought back to Christmas Eve. "I know, but forget about the kids – what about the adults? Ron gets as giddy when he thinks about presents as he does since he was eleven," chuckled Harry.

"Speak of the devil," said Ginny, indicating the red-head that had just walked through the kitchen door.

"You're a little more cheerful now, I see," observed Ron. "You want me to help as well?"

"No, Harry's more than enough, thank you," Ginny replied, glaring at her brother.

"But I –"

"Ron, don't forget the Bat-Bogeys!" Ginny interrupted.

Once again, Ron disappeared without saying another word.


	13. Mirror

13. Mirror

"Merlin. Has it always been that big?" said Ginny incredulously, pointing up at the castle.

Her husband grinned and took her outstretched hand in his own. "Yep. Same old Hogwarts."

"How long has it been? You know, since we were last here."

"I have no idea. Too long," Harry replied, shaking his head.

The two of them walked up to the castle, hand-in-hand. When they reached the front doors, they pushed them open and walked through to the Entrance Hall, which was packed full of witches and wizards.

"Harry! Ginny!" yelled a voice somewhere to the couple's left. "Over here!"

Harry and Ginny walked over and were eagerly pulled into a joint hug by Hermione.

"I haven't seen you two in ages! How are you?" she squealed, finally pulling away.

"Hermione, we saw you last weekend, at the Burrow," Harry replied, rolling his eyes.

"Really? It seems like far longer!"

"Hermione, let them breathe," joked Ron who had appeared at Hermione's side, along with Minerva McGonagall, with whom he had just been conversing.

"Hello Ginny, Harry," said Professor McGonagall, nodding at them. "Ronald here was just telling me about your promotion, Harry! Congratulations!"

"Thank you, Prof – Minerva," Harry replied, quickly correcting himself. "I've never forgotten the time you insisted to Umbridge that I would become an Auror. I've always been grateful."

Minerva merely gave Harry a tight-lipped smile, and turned to Ginny.

"Ginny, yesterday James demonstrated one of the spells you've taught him on a Slytherin boy – the Bat Bogey Hex, I believe?"

"I told him! I told him not to use that spell!" replied Ginny exasperatedly.

"Not to worry, Ginny," Minerva replied, smiling. "He won't be doing it again. I've seen to that."

Harry and Ginny looked at each other in slight alarm, hoping Minerva didn't take too many points from James. He was only a second year, after all, and even Harry Potter's son wasn't immune to angry Gryffindors.

"How's Al settled in?" asked Harry, hurriedly changing the subject from his oldest son's many rule-breaks.

"Wonderfully. Not quite as troublesome as his older brother, but some bending of the rules is to be expected from Harry and Ginny Potter's son," replied Minerva.

Harry and Ginny smirked at each other.

"The other staff and I are waiting nervously for your third. Lily, is it?"

"Yeah," Ginny answered proudly. "She's coming in a couple of years. She can't wait."

"I bet," muttered Minerva.

"It was an incredibly good idea to open Quidditch matches to parents this year, Minerva," said Hermione, who had been listening to the conversation with a grin. "I can't wait to see Rosie in action."

"Yes, well, I saw no reason not to. James, Albus and Rose are all wonderful flyers. Many people are saying Albus is the best seeker since…" Minerva smirked. "…well, since his father."

Harry blushed, before saying, "I know the match doesn't start for another half hour or so. Do you mind if Ginny and I have a look around the castle?"

"Of course," Minerva replied.

"We'll save you seats," Ron called as Harry and Ginny walked towards the stairs.

"So, Harry… where do you want to go?" asked Ginny.

"I'm not sure, really. I just want to see everything again. There won't be anyone about, all the students will be at breakfast."

"Yeah… I miss breakfast at Hogwarts. Full English breakfasts every day…" Ginny hinted, looking up at Harry.

"I bring you a full breakfast in bed sometimes!" Harry protested.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Just kidding, Harry."

The two of them spent ten minutes looking around the castle, seeing what was different and what was the same. They took a look in the common room, which hadn't changed in the slightest. After exiting the portrait hole, they walked along the corridor in a direction neither of them had ever gone in before, in all their years at Hogwarts. As they walked along the corridor, the walls and the very few paintings became dustier, and there were many cobwebs where the walls met the ceiling.

"Doesn't look like anyone's been down here in years!" said Harry.

"No wonder. There's nothing here! What's the point in a corridor leading to no rooms," Ginny scoffed.

However, right at the end of the corridor was a small wooden door. Out of curiosity, Ginny opened it and poked her head inside.

"Wow! Look at this!" she called, stepping completely into the room. Against his better judgement (prying only seemed to amount to trouble in his time at Hogwarts), he followed.

The room was in poor shape. Parts of the floor were cracked and worn away, and there was a hole in the back wall. Presumably, it had been a classroom before the Battle of Hogwarts and it had become ruined by spells and curses. Obviously, nobody had bothered to fix it up.

"It's the Mirror of Erised!" exclaimed Harry when he saw what was standing in the corner of the room.

"The _what_ now?" asked Ginny, confused.

"The Mirror of Erised," repeated Harry. "I found it in my first year, in a classroom. Then it was moved to protect the stone, and I don't know where it was taken after that. But someone, presumably McGonagall, must have moved it here after the battle, because the room's obviously unused and I bet no one goes down this corridor!"

"What is it?" asked Ginny, walking towards the mirror.

"It shows you your deepest desire!" Harry replied excitedly. "What do you see?"

Ginny stood directly in front of the mirror, and Harry moved to stand next to her.

After a couple of moments, Ginny turned to Harry, confused. "I just see our reflection."

"Me too. I just see me stood next to you, as we are now. Maybe it's stopped working or something?"

Harry moved to examine the mirror, but stopped, a smile on his face.

"I just see me and you because you _are_ my deepest desire. Dumbledore told me that the happiest man alive would just see his reflection, and that's what we see," Harry explained, pulling Ginny closer to him.

"I'm your deepest desire?" she said, looking right into Harry's eyes.

"Of course. What else could I possibly desire, other than you?"

Ginny smiled and gave Harry a long, slow kiss.

"I love you," she said when she pulled away.

"I love you too."

Ginny paused for a moment. "So… you're the happiest man alive, huh?" she said, with a cheeky grin.

"I guess so. I know what'd make me even happier right now though…" he put his arms around Ginny's waist and looked at her, his eyes sparkling.

"Harry! We don't have time!" she said, laughing. "The match starts in ten minutes, and we have to get out to the pitch. I don't want to miss our baby's first match for the team!"

Harry laughed. "Sorry to break this to you Ginny, but Al isn't a baby anymore."

"All three of them will always be my babies, even when they're forty years old."

"Even when they're having babies of their own?"

"Argh! Don't talk about that yet, I'm only thirty-five!"

"And you still look twenty-five," Harry replied.

"Always the charmer."

Harry laughed and took Ginny's hand. They walked out of the room, not giving the mirror another look - neither of them needed to be told what their deepest desires were.


	14. Smile

**A/N Thanks for all the reviews I've been getting, I love them all! I want to dedicate this chapter to busybee6563, for being so amazing! Anyway, enjoy and please review!**

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14. Smile

"Come on Ginny! You're doing amazing. Push, push, just keep pushing!" Harry yelled, gripping Ginnys hand.

"Why don't you just fucking push Harry?" Ginny panted, fighting for breath in between pushes. She was gripping on to Harry's hand so tightly, he was sure it would snap off at any moment.

"I promise that I would if I could, Gin, but it has to be you. If I could stop the pain, I would. You're doing so great – "

"We're almost there," the medi-witch interrupted. "Have a rest for a moment, Mrs Potter."

Ginny didn't need to be told twice. She collapsed into the pillow behind her head and breathed deeply. Harry leaned forward and kissed his wife on her sweaty forehead, brushing the hair that had stuck to it away with his hand. He stroked her hair soothingly and smiled.

"Soon, we're going to have a little baby boy or girl," he soothed quietly, almost whispering. "And this'll all be worth it."

"I know, I know. But why does it have to hurt so much?" Ginny moaned, her breathing almost regular again.

Harry laughed softly. "Just the way it is, honey."

Before Ginny could reply, the medi-witch shouted, "Okay, Mrs Potter, it's time. You're going to have to push even harder than before, but we're nearly there."

Harry took hold of Ginny's hand once more as a look of determination appeared on her face and she began to push.

"Almost there," reassured the medi-witch. "I can see the head… shoulders… it's a boy!"

Harry's head shot up and he began to smile.

"A couple more seconds…" shouted the medi-witch. "He's here!"

The witch's words were almost drowned out as a small cry filled the air. Both Harry and Ginny – who was still panting heavily – began to smile broadly and Harry kissed Ginny on the top of her head. The medi-witch took out her wand and muttered a few incantations, waving her wand over the baby, who was still crying softly. Within a couple of seconds, Baby Potter was in his father's arms, wrapped in blankets.

Harry looked wordlessly down at his son, who had stopped crying almost immediately as he was placed in his father's arms. Harry took in his appearance – the boy already had a head of Harry's jet-black hair, though his nose and ears were unmistakably Ginny's.

After a few short moments, Harry cautiously passed the bundle down to Ginny, who immediately pulled him close to her chest.

"I love you so much already," she whispered into the baby's ear, her voice full of emotion.

She sat there for a few moments longer, before looking up at Harry.

"I think we should call him James," she said, smiling.

Harry's eyes filled with tears that he made no attempt to wipe away as he smiled.

"I was going to suggest the exact same thing. Thank you so much, it'd mean – I'm sure it _does_ mean so much to my Dad."

Ginny only smiled in reply, nodding her head. She slowly stroked his cheek and wiped away the tears that had fallen, one arm still wrapped tightly around her son's (now sleeping) body.

"You look beautiful," Harry added, his eyes locked with Ginny's.

Ginny laughed. "Are you sure? 'Cause I just pushed a baby out of me you know, and I've heard women don't look their best after doing that," she teased.

"You do," Harry replied, grinning. "You've never looked more beautiful than you do now."

Ginny looked down at James. "Will you be able to sweet-talk a girl like your Daddy, hmm?" she said, stroking James' hair, which was already sticking up all over the place.

Harry snorted. "Sweet-talking isn't something I'd put on my résumé."

"Ah, well. You got me in the end, didn't you?" Ginny teased.

"How I managed that though, I'll never know."

Ginny smiled and looked back down at her son.

"I can hardly believe he's mine," she whispered, almost inaudibly.

"Me too, me too. But he is Ginny, he's ours." Harry looked down at James. "I love you, James," he whispered, almost as quietly as Ginny.

Upon hearing his Dad's words, James moved in his mother's arms, opened his eyes and the corners of his mouth lifted.

James was smiling, right up at Daddy.

"Look, Harry!" exclaimed Ginny excitedly.

"I know, Ginny. I know," Harry replied, beaming.

"I'm sure your Mum and Dad are smiling too Harry. They'd be so proud," said Ginny, stroking Harry's arm.

"I know they are." Harry said. "Speaking of parents, don't you think I should go and tell them all outside what's going on?"

"Oh," Ginny said in surprise. "I'd forgotten about everyone in the waiting room. Sure, go see them. I'm sure Mum can't wait to meet yet another grandchild!"

Harry kissed Ginny before walking out of the private ward. When he entered the waiting room, he glanced around. Molly, Arthur, Ron, Hermione, Bill, Charlie, George and Percy were all sat on various chairs throughout the room. Everyone had arrived within half an hour of the news that Ginny had gone into labour with promises from Luna, Neville, Hagrid and Charlie, George and Percy's wives to visit tomorrow.

"It's a boy!" Harry yelled jubilantly as he entered the room. "We've called him James," he continued over the shouts of congratulations. Everyone stood up and ran to him, Hermione being the first to reach him and pull him into a hug.

"After your Dad, Harry, that's so wonderful," she whispered.

"Thanks," Harry replied as Hermione pulled away.

Molly was next to put her arms around Harry and pull him into a motherly hug.

"Congratulations! How are they both?"

"Ginny's fine. Never better. And James is perfectly healthy, they used the Weighing Charm on him pretty much as soon as he was born. Seven pounds and two ounces, the perfect weight for a newborn baby apparently. And he already has a full head of hair, almost as long as mine already!" Harry replied.

"Can I see them?"

"Of course. But our medi-witch says it's a strict three visitors at a time, other than the father that is," he said apologetically, addressing the entire group.

Arthur and Ron immediately looked at Harry hopefully, although neither said a word.

"So…" Harry continued. "Grandma, Grandpa and… Godfather?" he said, looking at Ron.

"You want me to be Godfather?" Ron asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"Of course, you idiot. Who else? Me and Ginny discussed it weeks ago. And, Hermione – would you like to be Godmother?"

Hermione's eyes filled with tears. "I'd love too Harry, I'm honoured. Thank you so, so, much!"

"You're welcome. I'm sure you two will be great parents, when you decide to."

Ron's face became white and he looked at Hermione, a worried expression on his face, who merely laughed and kissed Ron on the cheek.

"Can I go see my Grandson now, please?" spoke Arthur for the first time, bordering on impatiently.

Harry chuckled. "Of course, sorry."

Harry, Ron, Molly and Arthur walked out of the room and down the corridor towards Ginny's room. Unable to contain himself any longer, Harry paused just outside the door and turned to his companions.

"Do you know what James did? He smiled at me… he smiled! A real, baby smile!"

"Big woop, can I see my Godson now?"

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**A/N Aw, don't ya just love Ronniekins? So tactless. Hope you liked it, please review!**


	15. Tears

**A/N I know this is short, but I really wanted to update once more before I leave – this'll be the last update for at least two weeks, as I'm going on holiday.**

**I finally tried another angsty one, hope I've done okay.**

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15. Tears

I could have done something. I could have argued. I could have told him I'd follow him anywhere he goes.

I didn't say any of it.

But not until later did I let them fall.

I've always known it would happen. Ever since our very first kiss in the common room. Maybe even before that. But I didn't want to believe it. I wanted to believe that Harry could be selfish, that Harry could forget everything he had to do. But instead, he has to try. Win or lose.

And for now, I lose him.

But not until later did I let them fall.

I wanted him to take me with him. I wanted him to never go anywhere without me. I wanted _him_.

I wanted him to never leave.

But not until later did I let them fall.

Hearing him say the words, hearing the words I've always expected but never wanted, ripped me apart. It was almost exactly as I've heard them in my head, the words I've heard but never wanted to listen to.

I didn't want to hear it.

But not until later did I let them fall.

I know he'll come back someday. I hope he'll come back someday. All I can do is wait, and hope. And love him as much as before. I need to move on, for now.

I don't want to move on.

But not until later did I let them fall.

It has to happen, happen for the greater good. I know something has too be done. But he's too noble, too brave. He has to save everyone but himself. And he thinks the best place for me to be safe is away from him.

All I want is to be by his side.

But not until later did I let them fall.

Not until later did I let the tears fall.

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**A/N Okay… I know it's a bit… lame, but I just really wanted to update for you guys. So, please review!**


	16. Questioning

**A/N Sorry for such a long wait! I only got back from my holiday two days ago, and I haven't had time to type this up until now.**

**You'll probably figure this out when you're reading it, but this is set during Harry's sixth year and Ginny's fifth, during the short time in which they're dating.**

**There's another chapter coming _very_**** soon. Read and review please!**

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16. Questioning

I was waiting for Harry outside of my Charms classroom when she _ambushed_ me – Whats-her-face Vane in fourth year.

"Hey!" she yelled from behind me, tapping me on the shoulder.

I turned around and looked at her. I vaguely recognized her, but I knew I'd never spoken to her before. "Erm, hi," I replied unsurely. "Can I help you?"

She disregarded this, and continued to curl a lock of hair around her finger, her head cocked to one side. She looked me up and down, before resting her eyes on my face.

"I don't get it," she said after a long moment. This confused me even more, but I decided to stay with Polite Ginny – until the alternative was needed.

"Don't get what?"

"I don't get, little Jilly, why– "

"Ginny. My name's Ginny," I interrupted, mentally rolling my eyes. I decided not to question her on the use of the word 'little' to describe someone who was actually a year older than herself.

"Whatever. Ginny, Jilly, same difference." She flapped a perfectly manicured hand at me, waving aside my correction. "Anyway, what I don't get is why he chose _you." _She snorted and looked me up and down pointedly.

Although I still didn't have any idea what she was talking about, I could tell it wasn't polite. My nostrils flared and I stood up slightly straighter.

"Who?" I said icily.

"Duh. Harry Potter. Why's he dating you? Especially when he could be dating me."

"Excuse me?" I said in disbelief. "I don't think it's anything to do with you, is it?"

She laughed. "Of course it is. I'd nearly got my way with Harry before you thrust yourself upon him in the common room. He's just too nice to tell you he doesn't want to date you. I can tell what he's really thinking, you see. We have a sort of connection." I stared at her, my eyes wide, hardly believing a person could be quite so delusional. "But, just so you know, I'm not going to try fight you for him – "

"What a relief," I said sarcastically. "I wouldn't like to be up against you." My sarcasm was clearly lost on her, and she just flicked her hair looking pleased with herself. I decided to humour her – it was hardly worth the effort fighting with this girl.

"So, your ex, Dean Thomas – he's alright, isn't he? I might go for him, if I can't have Harry yet. It might make him jealous," she said.

"Yeah, 'go for' Dean," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"Oh, I will. Now, tell me – is it true about the hippogriff?"

Once more, she'd lost me completely. "What hippogriff?"

She looked at me smugly, looking pleased to know something 'Jilly' didn't. "So you don't know. Apparently, Harry has a hippogriff tattooed across his chest!"

I snorted with laughter. "Of course he doesn't." I paused for a moment. "It's a Hungarian Horntail. Way more macho."

Whats-her-face sucked her breath in, clearly excited. "Wow, cool. I'd ask you to describe it, but…" She snorted. "I think I'll find out for myself soon enough."

I'd had enough of the 'I'll-have-Harry-soon' crap by now, and I stepped a little closer to her. I was pleased to see that I was almost a head taller, and I looked down at her.

Before I could reply, Harry appeared beside me. "Hey, Gin. Ready to go?" he said happily. He kissed me on the cheek and slipped his hand into mine, before noticing the girl in front of me. "Oh, hello Romilda," he added unenthusiastically.

So that was her name – Romilda. I smirked at Harry's icy greeting, but Romilda batted her eyelashes, oblivious.

"Hey, Harry. Jilly and I were just having a nice chat," she simpered, touching his arm. It took a lot for me not to reach out and chop her hand off.

Harry looked around, confused. "Jilly?"

Romilda laughed hysterically, slapping his arm. "Oh, Harry," she squealed, shaking her head. "You're so funny!"

He looked at me, bewildered. "I am?"

"Of course!" she replied. "Ginny – your girlfriend! Remember her?"

"Last time I checked, my girlfriend was called Ginny," Harry muttered, raising his eyebrows at me.

"Oh, sorry, yeah. Ginny." She gave me a huge fake grin, showing lots of obviously magically whitened teeth. If it had been dark, they would have glowed. "You two are soooo sweet!"

Harry blushed, but I returned the grin, undeterred.

"That's not what you were saying a couple of minutes ago," I said, as if I was confused.

She glared at me, and spoke through gritted teeth. "Yes it was, Ginny. You must have misunderstood me." She looked at me patronizingly.

"I'm sure I didn't, _Romilia,_" I replied. Harry looked at me in confusion, clearly wondering what was going on. "But it doesn't matter. Harry and I are going to spend a nice hour in the grounds, and I might even get another look at that tattoo of his. Feel free to join us – not."

And with that, I walked away, pulling a very confused Harry along with me.

"I have a tattoo, Jilly?" he asked with a smirk.

"You do now. A Hungarian Horntail."

"And you might get to look at it, again? Where is it supposed to be, exactly?" he asked, bemused.

"On your chest. But don't worry, I'm not planning to rip your shirt off or anything," I said matter of factly as we walked through the corridor. "I just said that to make her back there jealous." I jerked my finger down the corridor, pointing at a very angry Romilda.

Harry laughed, and looked at me. "Am I going to get the whole story?"

I told him what had happened, and Harry laughed and looked slightly angry at regular intervals. "Urgh. I really don't like Romilda Vane," he said, his voice full of disdain.

"What about your _connection_?" I mocked, putting my arm around his waist as we walked across the grounds.

"That none-existent one, you mean?"

I laughed and kissed Harry on the cheek. We sat down on the grass, Harry's back against the beech tree and me sat between his legs, as was our usual position – before we engaged in other activities that required both parties to face the other.

Within five minutes, I'd forgotten all about Romilda Vane.

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**A/N Once again, sorry for the long wait. Please review!**


	17. Happiness

**A/N I just realised I've received over 100 reviews now – thank you so, so much everyone! I take on board things said in every single one – please keep them coming! Also, thank you to the 18 people who've added this to their favourites, that's amazing!**

**Right, on to the chapter! I've wanted to write this for a while, so it's spent a lot of time whirring around in my brain. Hope I did okay! Enjoy, and please leave a review!  
**

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17. Happiness

I wished everyone would just go away and leave me alone. The party had been going on for over an hour, and what felt like all of Gryffindor house had come over to congratulate me on the catch. I was grateful and everything, but I didn't feel as if I deserved it. I suppose that's not fair on myself – I did deserve it, but there was someone else who would've deserved it so much more.

I waited anxiously for him to walk through the portrait hole, constantly looking over people's heads. I knew it'd be clear straight away from the people around me when he entered the common room, but I couldn't stop checking. I stood by Hermione with a bottle of butterbeer, trying hard to be polite towards the numerous people who tried to engage me in a conversation. I really wasn't in the mood. I used Hermione as my human shield, and hastily made a trip to the bathroom when Dean eventually spotted me and began to walk over. I'd had quite enough of his begging and frankly, I knew I couldn't be polite for much longer.

I was happy about the win, of course I was. Especially since I was up against Cho Chang. I never have liked her. But it didn't feel right to be celebrating without our captain.

I knew he'd arrived when the room erupted in cheers. I looked up quickly, and pushed through the crowd that had gathered. I reached the front just as the portrait hole was swinging shut, and I could hear Ron yelling something in his ear. He scanned the crowd quickly, searching for one particular face face, searching for somebody. Searching for me. Our eyes met, and I ran towards him, unsure of what I was doing and what on earth I was thinking. I suppose I was planning to envelop him in a hug, and wrap my arms around his neck…I didn't plan anything, but I knew just what I wanted to do. And I thought maybe, _just maybe_, if that look on his face is anything to go by…

I leapt at him and flung my arms around his neck, not bothered by the fact that there were so many people around, or how he was going to react, like I had so many times in the past. Maybe it was the butter beer. Or maybe it was the fact that his face looked so determined, exactly how I imagined mine was.

He placed his hands on my shoulders and I felt a pang of disappointment as he gently pulled away. But then, before I knew what was happening, he lowered his face to mine and he was kissing me. _Harry Potter_ was kissing me, and it was the most amazing feeling in the word. His lips were so beautifully soft and as his hot breath mingled with my own, I felt a tingle down my spine. In the back of mind, I knew I would never be able to kiss anyone else, ever again. Not after kissing Harry. He put one hand on my back and one in my hair, and feeling his touch was electric.

After what could've been ten seconds or ten hours, a smashing sound behind me brought me to my senses. Harry and I slowly broke apart, and I opened my eyes that I didn't remember closing. The first thing I saw were Harry's own eyes, looking at me with something I'd never seen in them before. A few wolf-whistles came from around us, as well as some applause. I watched as Harry looked over my head towards where the sound of breaking glass had come from, and looked slightly apologetically at whoever was standing there. Harry looked nervously over at Ron, who was standing completely still, his mouth hanging open slightly, before he jerked his head in our direction. Harry's eyes lit up once more as he took Ron's gesture as a look of consent. Not that I would have payed the slightest attention to whatever Ron thought, but Harry seemed relieved.

He grinned that gorgeous smile of his down at me, his hand still at my back and he gestured towards the portrait hole. I knew he was thinking of a walk around the grounds, and I smiled at the thought.

As we walked towards the portrait hole, I looked in to Harry's eyes and recognised the emotion there. Happiness.


	18. Under the Rain

**A/N Here's something that doesn't happen often – the chapters are actually going to follow on from each other! (Don't expect it to happen again though) This takes place right after Harry and Ginny leave the portrait hole, but we've switched to Harry's POV. I'm _very _sorry about the amount of time it took me to update. I've had loads of homework, and you must all know how it is.**

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18. Under the Rain

Ginny pushed me up against the wall as soon as we were out of the portrait hole and began kissing me again. And who was I to try and stop her?

We broke apart after a few minutes, and she looked in to my eyes expectantly.

"Aren't you going to say something, then?" she said breathlessly.

"Um…" I was flabbergasted. What on earth _could_ I say? "…how was the match?"

Ginny sighed. "Is that important?"

I thought about it. No, it wasn't. Not in the grand scheme of things. "I suppose not."

"We won, anyway – by a large margin. And I caught the snitch from right under Cho Chang's nose," she boasted.

"Always modest, eh Gin?" I teased, smiling.

She jabbed me playfully in the side and we began to walk down the corridor. I thought back to that dreadful time in Madame Pudifoot's as Ginny mentioned Cho. I remembered how long I'd pondered over taking her hand, and just when I'd plucked up the courage, she'd moved her hand off the table. We never were very well in tune, Cho and I.

As if she could hear my thoughts, Ginny smiled up at me and slipped her hand in to mine – just before I was about to take her hand myself. It seemed so natural, as if we'd been doing so for years. I cringed as I realised that we _could've_ been, if not for my stupidity. How could I not have realised earlier that I liked Ginny?

Just when I was about to voice this, Ginny began to speak. "Don't beat yourself up about taking so long to kiss me, by the way. I forgive you, in advance."

"How did you know?" I asked, bemused.

Ginny shrugged. "I could tell from your face. You get this look when you're about to apologise for something. You apologise far too much."

"Okay, fine. I'll never apologise again," I said defiantly, fighting the childish urge to stick out my tongue at her.

Ginny smiled and silence fell – not an awkward silence, just one that neither of us felt the need to fill. A question was churning through my mind, and I knew I had to say it, as ridiculous as it might sound.

"Um, Ginny?"

"Yes?"

"Does this mean we're…dating, now?" I asked awkwardly.

She burst out laughing. "Of course it does, you idiot."

"Well, I don't have as much experience with _this_ kind of thing as you," I said defensively.

"Didn't seem like it from that kiss, Harry," Ginny replied, smiling still. "Why on earth did Cho give you up so easily?"

I could feel myself blushing. "Cho and I…didn't work out. It had nothing to do with our kissing expertise, good or bad."

"Am I better?" she asked forcefully.

"You don't hold back, do you?"

"Well?"

"She doesn't even compare," I replied simply, looking down at my feet shyly as I did so.

Ginny smiled, obviously satisfied. Why it mattered to her, I have no idea, but if it made her happy then I was happy.

We'd arrived at the front doors by this point, and I realised night had already fallen when I pushed them open. The stars were hidden by grey clouds, but the silvery moon was just visible.

We began to walk aimlessly across the grass, speaking occasionally. Ginny reluctantly elaborated on the events of the Quidditch match, and I listened happily. Her voice was kind of beautiful. Her voice _was _beautiful. Why hadn't I noticed before? I couldn't concentrate on the words as I listened, entering a sort of trance.

"…so then Madame Hooch blew the whistle and it was all over," she ended with an air of finality that snapped me out of my daze.

"Well done, Miss Weasley," I said jokingly. "You might have to take my place on the team permanently."

She snorted. "Of course not. I much prefer being a chaser, anyway."

Our wanderings had brought us to the edge of the lake and I halted cautiously. The silver light from the moon was the only light we had, and it would've only taken one step more to fall in.

I turned to face Ginny and put my arm around her waist. I gently lowered my lips to hers and kissed her again, taking her by surprise. After a couple of moments, I heard a soft plopping noise in the lake and I felt something run down my cheek.

"Oh no," Ginny moaned. "Rain."

I looked up and sure enough, drops of rain were falling from the dark grey clouds, splashing down in to the lake.

"I suppose I should've known," I sighed, looking back down at Ginny.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"It's like… it never stops raining on me," I admitted. "I feel like that's how it is, _always_. I sometimes think the rain's going to stop, but…it's always raining. Does that sound incredibly corny?"

"Yes, it does," Ginny replied, with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "But I'll always stand beside you in the rain, Harry. You know that, right?"

"I do now," I replied, tucking a strand of her wet hair behind her ear. "If you're here, the rain doesn't bother me."

She smiled. "Good, because I was enjoying myself then. Where were we?"

I leant in to kiss her again, ignoring the fact that the rain was pouring down on me. We kissed until I could feel Ginny shivering from the cold and I put my arms around her and pulled her close to me, under the stars, under the moon and under the rain.

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**A/N Please leave a review :)**


	19. Sport

**A/N Another adult Harry and Ginny chapter, with appearances from pretty much all the Weasleys, even if they don't say much.**

19. Sport

"Albus!" Harry moaned. "Maybe in a bit, okay?"

"Come on Dad, just fly with me for a little bit!"

"Why don't you ask Mum?"

"But she's not a seeker!"

"I'm talking to Ron," Harry replied.

"You can talk to Ron anytime," said Albus, waving his hand and looking disapprovingly at Ron. Who was, nonetheless, secretly Albus' favourite uncle.

The adults present laughed, and Harry finally stood up from the garden chair he'd been sitting on. "Okay, Al, okay. Let's get everyone involved though."

"But Dad! I wanted you to teach me some more technique!"

"We can do that anytime, Al. All the family are here, let's make it a proper match. You can be seeker of one team, me the other. If that's alright with everyone?" Harry said, looking around at everybody. The extended Weasley (and Potter) family were all present in the garden of the Burrow, sat on chairs in clusters, or on the grass.

Everyone nodded enthusiastically, except for Hermione and the younger children, including Lily.

"Shall we get some drinks for everyone?" said Hermione, looking down at Lily, who was splayed out on the grass, talking to Hugo.

Hermione and Lily walked together in to the Burrow, and everyone who was playing walked over to Harry and Albus.

"Audrey and I will referee," Percy said pompously, as was his custom. He took his wife's hand and they went to the broom shed to get the balls.

"Al, who's your keeper?" asked Ginny.

Albus looked around thoughtfully, his chest puffed out proudly at his first duties as captain.

"Hmm. Ron?"

Ron grinned and walked over to Albus' side. "Of course, mate. Wouldn't want to be with your old Dad _again_, would I?"

"Rose?" said Harry. "You know you're nearly as good a keeper as your Dad already."

Rose squealed happily and walked over to her uncle.

The organisation of the teams continued for the next five minutes, eventually ending with Albus' team consisting of; himself as Seeker, Ron as Keeper, Bill, Fleur and Angelina as Chasers and Charlie and James as beaters.

Harry's team was; himself as Seeker, Rose as Keeper, Ginny, Teddy and Victoire as Chasers and George and Hugo as beaters.

"Alright then!" said James as soon as the teams were sorted. "Game on!"

.x.

"I'm so sorry, Mum!" yelled James, throwing his broomstick aside as he landed on the soft grass. He was almost in tears as he ran over to Ginny.

The game had been in play for about half an hour, and the score was equal at 60-60. Most of the players were hovering motionless in the air, the balls forgotten.

"Don't worry, James," said Harry slightly anxiously. He had just landed at Ginny's side, whose nose was gushing with blood. He put his arm around her and steered her over to a couple of empty seats. "It was an accident. I know you weren't aiming for your Mum's face. Just remember you're not playing with a team of Slytherins now, you know," he joked half-heartedly, stroking Ginny's hair as they sat down.

"I'm really sorry – " James began, but Harry cut him off.

"Don't worry about it, James. You keep playing. Ask Charlie to be seeker for me. We'll just have to play one chaser down."

James hurried back over to his broomstick after one last anxious look and shot up in to the air.

Harry performed a few charms on Ginny's face which cleared away most of the blood, and reduced the pain she was in. Ginny wrinkled her nose tentatively, but relaxed when she found it didn't hurt at all – she'd had far worse in her days with the Harpies.

"Does it hurt, honey?" asked Harry, continuing to stroke Ginny's hair and pull it back from her face.

"Not much," Ginny reassured him, taking his hand as she watched the game.

"Good. James doesn't know how much power he really has, does he?" said Harry, watching his oldest son as he darted about, club in hand.

Ginny laughed. "No, he doesn't. It's fine, though. Injuries happen."

"I know. I'm surprised our family has never had much worse than a couple of broken bones, what with the amount of us who play," Harry replied.

"Do you remember when we used to play Quidditch here in the summer?" said Ginny.

"Of course. Us two against Ron and Hermione. We make a good team, always have," Harry said, smiling. "Even when you used to shout at me if I dropped the ball."

"I never shouted at you! Maybe once, but you weren't paying attention to the game!" Ginny complained. "You were all glassy eyed, staring at something."

"I wonder what I was staring at?" Harry said pointedly, putting his arm around Ginny. She rested her head on his shoulder.

She smirked, unseen by her husband. "Yes. I wonder."

"And now our children and nieces and nephews are playing here. Shouting at each other too, may I add. But they're pretty good, aren't they? Well, they're amazing."

"Should be. They all have Weasley blood," Ginny pointed out with another smirk.

"Yep. Lucky kids."

The two of them were interrupted by a shrill blow of the whistle by Percy, signalling the end of the game.

Albus looked down at his parents proudly, golden snitch in his gloved hand.

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**A/N I know Charlie is a seeker, but I couldn't have three! Please review!**


	20. Pen and Paper

**A/N This isn't going to be one of the best chapters, but I saw the prompt and just really wanted to write it, as silly and unserious as it is. Ginny is writing in italics, and Harry just normal. Oh, and it's set in seventh year which I've decided everyone returned for :) Enjoy.**

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20. Pen and Paper

Another day, and another dosage of boredom – otherwise known as History of Magic. And the worst part – Harry sits on the row in front of me. No possibilities for a conversation. Passing notes, however_, is_ possible.

I slipped in to my seat behind Harry just as the bell rang and pulled out a quill, ink and a piece of parchment. Professor Binns floated out of the blackboard (presumably from behind it) and began his lecture.

I scrawled a note and levitated it towards Harry. I dropped it beside his hand and watched him as he began to grin. He was in a good mood today…this would be fun.

_Hey, Harrykins._

Haven't we been through this, Gin-Gin?

_Through what, Harrykins?_

The terrible pet names, Gin-Gin.

_You mean you don't think they're cute, Harrykins?_

Not really, Gin-Gin.

_Why do you call me Gin-Gin then, Harrykins?_

Because you insist on calling me Harrykins. It's only fair, Gin-Gin.

_Shall we stop now?_

I think so. Ron and Hermione's 'Ronnie and Mione' are annoying enough.

_Hell, yeah. Anyway, how are you today Harry?_

You just saw me about an hour ago at breakfast, and I was fine then wasn't I?

_Sheesh, sorry. Forgive me for being a polite, concerned, loving girlfriend. Someone's crabby today – did they not have any bacon at breakfast? I know how you get about that._

I'm not crabby. And yes, there was bacon.

_The year of 1609 was particularly important in the uprising of_

_Sorry, had to pretend to be taking proper notes - Hermione's looking. I don't feel like another lecture about the 'importance of seventh year'._

Oh, she's given you that lecture too?

_Yeah. And she's already drawn up The Revision Timetable._

No! But it's only January, she can't have done The Revision Timetable already!

_Yes, Harry, indeed. Has she not given you yours yet? They're highlighted and everything._

Oh, Merlin. Not highlighted.

_Yes, highlighted - in five different colours, according to importance for your career. _

Hermione…drives you insane, doesn't she?

_Yep. But we love her._

Definitely. Only in a sisterly way though, of course.

_Ron's reading?_

Obviously.

_He really is an insecure little boy, isn't he?_

Ron says I have to tell you that on no accounts is he little, or a boy.

_He really is an insecure big girl then, isn't he?_

Ron says… something I don't want to repeat.

_Prod him with your quill for me will you, Harry?_

Consider it done.

_Thanks. Oh, I haven't said today yet how much I adore the bracelet you got me for Christmas._

I'm wishing I hadn't got you it now. I get it, you like it. I'm immensely glad, but can you stop mentioning it?

_Never._

Glad we got that sorted. I suppose I should mention I love the…Ron might still be reading. Better not mention it.

_Yeah, my big brother might not like that particular gift his little sister gave his best friend…_

Probably not. Best keep it secret.

_Hermione really is glaring now. I think she might set the parchment on fire when I next levitate it…_

Nope, the parchment survived. I suppose we should stop though, just in case Hermione does try to set it on fire but misses and gets one of our heads. It's a possibility.

_Hermione? Bad aim with her wand? You talk nonsense, Harrykins. I suppose we'll have to stop though, for our safety and everything. Love you always._

Love you too.

**A/N So, that was a little rambly and random and silly, but I liked writing it :) Review, please? Another chapter is on the way _very _soon – updates are going to be quicker now, because I've finished my other story, so more time to spend on this. Wow, twenty chapters! Only another eighty to go!****  
**


	21. Give Up

21. Give Up

I never really held that much hope, not really. But I thought maybe, just _maybe_…

It was only one week until the Yule Ball. Most girls already had dates, especially in the fourth year and upwards. Two people in my dormitory were going, and of course Hermione had been asked by Viktor Krum. Nobody had asked me – which was something I had mixed feelings about. Why didn't anybody want to take me? Was it because I was 'the Weasley girl'? Not worth the bother with my brothers? I really didn't care that much, anyway. I've never been interested in boys. Boys _plural, _I mean_. _There's only one boy.

And that one boy was yet to accept offers from many of the girls who'd thrown themselves at him. Even one of my roommates had shyly asked him whether he'd like to go with her; I'd been at the other side of the corridor, talking to Colin. I kept one eye on them though, and both ears. Harry blurted out a no, seeming bewildered that she'd asked him. I didn't want to set myself up for _that. _No, I was happy to stay in the background. Until he realises…if he ever realises…

But this was weeks ago, back when there was still plenty of time to find a partner. And neither he, nor I, had a date. That was the shred of hope I was hanging on to.

.x.

I woke early, but Peaves was already hiding inside his favourite suit of armour when I passed, singing _his _version of 'Oh Come All Ye Faithful'. I have to say I like his better than the original.

I skimmed the Gryffindor table with my eyes when I arrived at the Great Hall, looking for any of my friends. Nobody in my year had arrived yet, but Ron, Hermione and Harry were sat in the middle of the table. I took a deep breath and sat down next to my brother – and opposite Harry.

"Morning, Ginny," Ron greeted me cheerfully, before shoving a forkful of scrambled eggs in to his mouth.

"Hello, Ginny," said Hermione and Harry in unison, both watching Ron with amused expressions.

"Morning!" I said, smiling. "What are we talking about?"

"Nothing interesting," replied Hermione quickly before the boys could speak.

"We were talking about Quidditch!" exclaimed Ron.

"Like I said, nothing interesting," said Hermione with a smirk.

"Nothing interesting? _Nothing interesting?"_

"Yes, Ron. Just because you like to discuss how amazing Viktor Krum was at the World Cup every minute of every day, doesn't mean we all do."

"Not _every_ minute," Ron replied bashfully. "But did you see him flying? And to think he's still here, in this castle, and I haven't got his autograph yet!"

"You won't be saying that in a few days time," I said quietly, sniggering in to my juice.

Hermione kicked me under the table whilst smiling sweetly, before taking another bite of her toast.

"What did she -?"

"Nothing, Ron. Anyway, have you found a date for the ball yet?" she said, hastily changing the subject.

"No. All the good ones are taken," Ron said glumly.

"The good ones?" questioned Hermione haughtily.

"Yeah, you know, the good looking ones."

"Honestly, Ron! You can't judge a girl based on her appearance!"

"Yes, but you don't want to go in there with a…"

"What? A _what_ exactly, Ronald?"

"Here they go again," I grumbled, turning to Harry as they continued to bicker. He grinned appreciatively.

I knew Harry didn't have a date to the ball – but of course I wasn't going to ask him.

"So, are you going to – " I broke off mid-sentence, wondering whether asking if he was going to the ball with anyone would be obvious. " – going to…pass me the bacon?"

I cringed and Harry looked taken aback. I realised how rude my sentence must've seemed – as if I had a _right _to be passed the bacon. I felt my face redden.

"Urm, of course. There you are."

He passed me the plate and I took it, blushing.

I decided on a different approach. I could hint around the subject, couldn't I? "Are you – "

I broke off as I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning round, I saw Neville standing there, twiddling his thumbs nervously.

"Hi, Neville," I said, trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice.

"Hey," said Harry from behind me.

"Hi, Harry. Umm, Ginny, can I talk to you for a minute?"

I stared at him, confused. I hadn't spoken to Neville many times, but I knew he was a nice enough boy, as clumsy as he was. He'd asked out Hermione the day before, but she'd turned him down (nicely, of course), due to the fact that she was already going with Krum. I wondered whether Neville was going to ask if I could make her change her mind.

"Yeah, okay."

I stood up and followed him down to the end of the table, where he'd been sat alone.

I sat down next to him and looked at him expectantly.

"You see, the th-thing is, I…" he stuttered nervously, fiddling with his fork. "Would you like to…go to the ball with me?"

"You want to go to the ball…with me?" I choked out, utterly surprised.

"Umm, yes, I would. If…if you'd like to?"

My mind went in to overdrive for a minute. Here was a nice boy, asking me to a ball I probably wouldn't get another invite too. _He _was never going to ask. I may as well give up.

"Yes, of course. I'd like to go with you, Neville."

His face lit up and he gave me a tentative smile. "Great! I'll see you later, then?"

He shot up before I could reply and left the hall, his face reddening in embarrassment. I watched him leave, wondering if it was usual to feel regretful after you'd just accepted someone's offer for a date.

I began to walk over to my space next to Ron and I looked at Harry. He was gazing over Ron's shoulder, looking at something – or someone – at the Ravenclaw table. I followed his gaze. Cho Chang.

I sighed and purposefully sat down loudly, obscuring his view as I did so.

"What did he want?" asked Ron.

"Oh, nothing," I replied, picking up my fork.

Ron nodded and accepted my less-than-satisfactory answer, returning to his food.

"Were you going to ask me something before?" asked Harry.

I suddenly remembered; I was going to say '_Are you and your partner going to have to do anything special at the Yule Ball, because you're a champion?_' Only hinting. It wouldn't have been directly asking. It wouldn't have seemed obvious. Would it? I'm paranoid.

"No, nothing," I answered, wondering whether he'd ask me to elaborate.

Instead, he merely nodded and peered over my head.

Honestly. Boys.

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**A/N Thanks for all the reviews, it really makes my day when I get them all (you think I'm exaggerating!), it's amazing. Thank you to Jess for 'getting my creative juices flowing' this chapter :D Please leave a review!**


	22. Danger Ahead

**A/N Harry writes Ginny a letter during the trio's hunt for the horcruxes. Short, I know, but we all know Harry's not the writing kind. Please review!

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22. Danger Ahead

Ginny,

You know I'm not good at this sort of thing, but I wanted to write you this; just in case something happens to me. I want you to know how much I've missed you over the last couple of months, and that I think about you every day, every single miserable day we've been away.

I'm sorry I didn't realise I loved you sooner. We could've had months, years even. But the few weeks I had with you…they were the best weeks ever, Gin. They were bliss, like I was living someone else's life for a while.

I hope you you're not reading this letter, because I know what that must mean. Always know that I love you, and always will, even though I might be gone. I hope you can read this years in the future and laugh about what a soppy prat I am; that's the Ginny I know and love. But I had to write you this letter, because I know there's danger ahead, Gin. I hope that if I had to die, I took Voldemort with me.

This was the hardest thing I've ever written, and I still feel as if I haven't told you everything I feel for you, Ginny. Just remember that I love you, and I'll never really leave you.

Yours forever,

Harry.

P.S Don't hex Ron if he forgets I gave him this and gives you it five years in the future. You know how he is.

I love you.


	23. Stripes

**A/N I've FINALLY got a week break from school, so I should update a few times this week. (If I don't, nag and moan)**

23. Stripes

"…so then I thought maybe lace?"

"You can't be serious, Mum. Lace?"

"What? I know you're not fond of lace Ginny, but this is a _wedding_!"

Ginny sighed exasperatedly and looked to her Maid of Honour for support.

"I think what Ginny is trying to say is that maybe lace tablecloths wouldn't fit with the theme of the wedding," Hermione said carefully.

Mrs Weasley was interrupted by a gust of wind as George entered the Burrow, shaking snow out of his hair.

"It is _not _a nice day out there," he muttered, pulling out a chair at the table. Mrs Weasley tutted at him and pulled her fabric samples out of harm's way as Harry, Ginny and Hermione greeted him, slightly subdued.

"Ah. I bet you're all having fun," he added.

"Heaps," replied Ginny under her breath.

"It's your _wedding_, Ginny!" exclaimed Mrs Weasley.

"As you keep saying, Mum! But as Harry and I have already told you, we just want something simple! Something that doesn't involve any lace whatsoever."

"Well, due to the fact that one of my sons decided to _elope_ rather than have a proper wedding, I thought we could make more of an effort for yours, Ginny," she replied, glaring at George, who rolled his eyes.

"I've always told you I didn't want to bother with all this wedding business," said George. "Turns out Angelina felt the same!"

"Yes, well, you could've at least told us you were planning it all - "

"I believe we're talking about Ginny's wedding now, Mum?" George interrupted, winking at his little sister.

"Thanks," said Ginny sarcastically, putting her head on Harry's shoulder.

"Yes, we were. So Ginny, Harry – what tablecloths would you like, if you object to lace?"

"I don't care, Mum! What does it matter?"

"It matters! Just look at the samples!"

Harry pulled the samples towards himself and Ginny, nudging her until she grudgingly looked down at them. They all looked the same to Harry, who was only present at the table because Molly had told him that it was very important he was there. Like his fiancé, he didn't see why it was important he chose tablecloth materials, but he'd consented, in a (wasted) effort to keep the peace.

"I like that one," said Ginny defiantly after a moment, pointing out a plain white linen fabric with a thin silver stripe around the edge.

Mrs Weasley wrinkled her nose and fingered the fabric Ginny had chosen. "Stripes, Ginny?"

"Not stripes. _A _stripe."

"But it's so…plain."

"Exactly. The silver and white will go with anything. And not a spot of lace on it anywhere."

"Oh yes Molly, that one's very pretty," assured Hermione, patting Mrs Weasley's arm.

Mrs Weasley sighed discontentedly, looking slightly wistfully at the pale blue and white lace she had chosen to begin with. "I suppose I'll have to agree, then."

"Is this meeting over, then?" asked Harry hopefully, thinking about the sofa in front of the fire back at his and Ginny's flat.

"Oh, Harry," replied George, shaking his head. "You have so much left to learn."

"No, of course it's not," said Mrs Weasley, ignoring George. "We have the table setting designs, and the decorations, and the guest list…"

Ginny groaned and put her head down on the table.


	24. Breaking The Rules

**A/N Fast update! I'm surprised at myself.**

24. Breaking The Rules

"What's this called again?" asked Ginny, looking around excitedly.

"A cinema, Ginny. Cinema," her boyfriend answered, not for the first time.

"Cin-e-ma," Ginny repeated, saying the word as if it was in some exotic language. "And we're going to see one of those moving picture things you told me about, right?"

"Yes, and - " Harry broke up with a groan as he looked up at the screen showing movie times.

"What?" Ginny followed Harry's gaze and looked in amazement at the screen. "Wow, how do they do that?"

Harry didn't hear her however, as he was busy talking to the cinema attendant. "Aren't there any tickets left for…I don't know, just anything else?"

"No, sorry sir," apologised the young man in a bored voice.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, sir."

"Oh, fine," Harry grumbled, taking a ten pound note out of his wallet. "Two tickets then please…"

.x.

"These seats are uncomfortable," Ginny moaned.

Harry took her hand. "You'll get used to it."

"I won't."

"You will."

"I won't."

Harry was about to respond when a little girl turned around in her seat and put her finger to her lips, shushing them. Ginny giggled at her, which only earned her another glare from the girl.

"Yes Ginny, shush. It's starting."

"How do they get those pictures on that big screen thing?" Ginny asked loudly as a final trailer came to an end.

"By magic," said the girl's mother sarcastically, taking her daughter to different seats.

Ginny looked at Harry, confused. "Magic? But Muggles don't - "

"She was being sarcastic," Harry whispered, groaning as the opening credits started.

"Ooh, this is exciting!" exclaimed Ginny.

Harry put his face in his hands as girls began to scream and applaud when the name of the movie appeared onscreen. Ginny joined them, squealing and yelling until Harry put his hand over her mouth.

"What?" she said innocently when Harry removed his hand. "I was just doing as the Muggles do."

"Most Muggles don't scream at the start of movies, Gin," Harry whispered.

"Those girls down at the front are, though, and so are - " She broke off, distracted as she watched the screen. "Harry, what are they doing?" she asked curiously.

"Basketball."

"Bas-ket-ball," she said, saying it the same way as she had pronounced cinema. "So what is it?"

Harry sighed. "It's too complicated to explain now. Now shush and watch it, before we get thrown out."

Ginny watched the screen, fascinated. "Do Muggles always sing when they play Basbetball?"

"Basketball. And no, they don't. This is a musical."

"So are they going to keep bursting in to song?"

"Yep," replied Harry gloomily.

"Wow."

Ginny turned around as someone tapped her on the shoulder. "Please can you be quiet? My little girl is trying to watch."

"Sure, sorry," Ginny replied cheerfully, swivelling back around to watch the screen.

Ginny sat in silence for a few more minutes, before cheering joyfully when the team in red uniform won the basketball game.

"Ginny!"

"Sorry, sorry."

She watched the screen for another five minutes before making a disgusted noise. "Ugh, those two make me sick. And why is he singing to her? If you started to sing to me when we were sitting in a tree house Harry, I'd tell you to shut the hell up."

"Good to know," Harry replied in a hushed voice (compared to his girlfriend, who was speaking as loud as she would in normal conversation) "I won't ever sing to you, then."

"Good. Urgh, that girl is annoying. Her voice is shrill. Why couldn't we have seen a different movie, Harry? I don't like this one."

"Because," Harry began, speaking through gritted teeth, "this was the only thing showing right now that wasn't sold out."

Ginny and Harry turned around again as someone tapped them on the shoulder. "Excuse me, but _please _can you be quiet? My daughter can't hear the song."

"Yeah, sorry," replied Harry apologetically, shushing Ginny when she began to giggle.

"I wish _I _couldn't hear the song," said Ginny under her breath.

"Just watch the movie, Ginny."

.x.

The couple exited the cinema hand in hand, Ginny moaning loudly.

"…and then she just started singing! In the middle of that cafeteria thing! And then those back up dancers just _appeared _behind her?"

"It was a musical, Ginny. That's what happens in musicals."

"I don't like musicals," Ginny replied firmly.

"Me neither."

"Can we come see a different one though? Next weekend? But no musicals."

"No musicals."

Harry steered Ginny across the road to a small restaurant where they'd been a couple of times before. They went inside and were seated by a smiling waiter, and they contemplated their menus in silence.

As Ginny looked down the list of main courses, she began to hum absent-mindedly. Harry looked up at her and began to laugh.

"You're humming it! That song from the movie!"

"Oh, I know, I know!" Ginny replied crossly, shaking her head as if to get the song out of her brain. "It's so catchy."

"You'll be tapping your toes next."

"I will never, _ever_ tap my toes. I am not a toe-tapping sort of girl."

Five minutes later, Ginny began to hum again. Harry looked under the tablecloth and when he emerged he looked at Ginny, raising an eyebrow.

"What? I have an itch in my foot!"

"An itch," Harry repeated.

"Yes. I don't toe-tap."

After another five minutes, Ginny began humming again. She slapped her hand over her mouth.

"Oh, stuff it. Can we see it again next weekend?"

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**A/N Hmm, that didn't really fit the prompt that much. Ah well. You might be able to guess what movie Harry and Ginny went to see, but if you don't know, it was High School Musical 3, which I saw a couple of days ago. **

**Please leave a review! =]**


	25. Drowning

25. Drowning

"RON!" I yell, battering on the door. "We have to leave to get the train in TEN minutes, and you're still in the shower! I forgot to pack my toothbrush, I need to get it!"

I hear muffled shouts from inside the bathroom mixing with the sound of the running water, but whatever Ron's shouting is beyond me.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

More muffled shouting. I look down at my watch.

"We have to leave in _NINE AND A HALF_ MINUTES! GET YOUR BUTT OUT HERE!"

I hear the squeak of the taps, and the water stops. After a couple of moments, the bathroom door opens.

"Finally, Ron. I thought you were trying to drown yourself in there – "

I break off. Oh, lord. That's not Ron.

"Um, sorry, Ginny. I went in after Ron."

That's Harry. Harry. With just a towel wrapped around his waist. And I just told him to get his butt out here. I wrench my eyes away from his chest, realising my eyes had lingered slightly too long there.

"I…sorry!"

And then I run away to my bedroom.

I flop on to my bed, last minute packing forgotten. Harry looked as embarrassed as I feel. I never knew he was so toned… all that Quidditch, I suppose…

There's a knock on my door for the millionth time that morning, and I grab some socks from the bed ad pretend to be packing them.

"Yes, yes, I've nearly finished packing Mum, for the millionth time! I'll be down in a second."

"Um, no. Me again."

Harry pokes his head around the door, looking apologetic.

"Oh. Come in, Harry," I say shyly. I close the lid of my trunk hastily, hiding certain girly unmentionables from view. Harry blushes, and I know he's seen them anyway.

Unfortunately, he's put a shirt on – or maybe it's fortunate, so I don't make an idiot of myself by staring at his chest again. His hair is dripping wet, and it's even messier than it is in its dry state.

"I brought you your tooth brush. That was why you were so intent on getting in to the bathroom, wasn't it?"

He holds it out, and I look at him, surprised. I'm so pleased for a moment that he knows which brush is mine that I just stare at him. Who knew something so insignificant could fill me with such pleasure?

I take it and smile. "Thanks. I'm sorry about before. I thought you were Ron," I say, stupidly. Obviously I thought it was Ron. That's why I was screaming his name.

"It's fine. You'd better get packing though; only eight minutes left."

It isn't until I'm packing my tooth brush that I realise Harry must've known it was mine, as it's most likely that it was the only one in there. That bursts my bubble.

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**A/N I'm sorry I haven't updated in forever, and my excuse is writer's block (which I thought was impossible, seen as this story allows me to write pretty much anything). But then ideas all came flooding back to me, and this is the result.  
**

**Please leave a review!**


	26. Annoyance

**A/N Thanks for all the reviews everyone! I got 10 last chapter, which is amazing. Can I get more than 12 for this one, which is my all-time best so far…? We'll see. (hint hint)  
**

**_(Jess, I know you won't want to read the next bit because you like using your detective skills to work out the time setting yourself…so MAJOR spoiler coming up for you…)_**

**It's set some time when H&G have their children, and they're at Diagon Alley looking for Christmas presents. Hope you enjoy!**

**Anyone recognise the first few lines…? =) _cough_STUPIDSCENEINTHEHALFBLOODPRINCETRAILER_cough_  
**

26. Annoyance

"You'd _think _they'd have forgotten about you by now. They all just flirt with you because they think you were the 'Chosen One'," Ginny grumbled, grabbing on to Harry's arm as she slipped on the watery slush covering the cobbled streets of Diagon Alley.

"But I _was _the Chosen One."

Ginny stopped Harry in his tracks with a glare that could freeze the slush on the ground. "Sorry, um, kidding."

"Don't they even care that you're _married? _We're trying to buy Christmas presents for our entire family, including our children, but we can't because of all these women… _flinging_ themselves at you!_"_

"Gin, they're hardly flinging themselves at me. They're not even doing anything," Harry replied, evidently unaware of the group of middle-aged women the couple passed, giggling like teenagers and batting their eyelashes at him.

"I swear, I might curse one of them one day." Ginny reached inside her cloak for her wand as a woman sidled past Harry, fluffing her hair and brushing up against his arm. "Actually, I'm going to curse _that _one, _today_."

"Ginny." Harry shifted his many shopping bags in to one hand and put his arm around her waist. "You're the only one that's noticed them. I'm oblivious. I have my wife next to me; she's the only woman I have eyes for."

Ginny couldn't help smiling. "She'd better be. Or else I'm never letting you out of the house, ever again."

"That's fine. As long as you stay in with me."

"Of course..." Ginny snuggled closer to Harry and slipped her hand in to his. "I can't go shopping if I haven't got anyone to carry my bags, can I?"

Harry laughed. "And I thought you were going to say something sweet about not wanting to go out without me because you'd miss me too much."

"Oh. That too, I suppose."

Ginny pushed Harry in to yet another shop and they continued shopping for gifts, and Ginny tried to ignore the eyes that followed them – but failed.

"Yes, yes, have a good look," she shouted as people doubled back to stare at Harry. "It's the Boy Who Shopped, right there in the flesh. Isn't he magnificent? Kindly excuse us though; we have gifts to buy, for our family. So stop ogling him and bugger off."

Sensibly, the crowd of women hurried away from the couple, muttering about how they'd be a 'much better wife for Harry Potter, the poor man'.


	27. Broken Pieces

**A/N I'm really rolling out the chapters right now! I always say I'm going to update faster in future and never do, but this time I really AM. I promise. I actually wanted to wait a day or so before posting this, seen as I just posted the previous one, but I just thought I might as well update now.**

**I've wanted to write this for a while, so here it is - Harry and Ginny's conversation after the Battle of Hogwarts. Enjoy, and please review!**

27. Broken Pieces

Harry couldn't wait any longer. He'd slept all through the night after the battle, all through the next day, and now night had fallen again – and he was finally awake. He didn't _want _to wait. He had to see her, speak to her, hold her…

As he made his ascent up the stairs to the girls' dormitories, he wondered why the stairs hadn't formed a slide and made him fall back down to the bottom; but then he realised he definitely didn't care. Maybe Hogwarts had bigger things to worry about than boys trying to enter girls' bedrooms.

Harry paused at the door. Would she want to see him? Maybe he should wait, wait until the physical and emotional scars from the battle were beginning to heal. He looked down at his hand on the door handle. He wanted nothing more at that moment than to open the door. But he knew the conversation could wait. Ginny was sure to be sleeping, and he knew better than to wake a sleeping Weasley. He remembered once when he had to wake up the twins one morning, when they needed to leave for Hogwarts, and Fred had said…_Fred._

He was just turning around to walk back down the stairs when the door in front of him swung open. Ginny stepped out of it, and walked straight in to Harry. She was slightly red-eyed, her hair was a mess, and her cheeks were covered in tear tracks, but she was still beautiful.

Ginny stared at him for a moment, just stared. He was skinnier than she'd ever seen him, even when he was eleven years old and asking her mother how to get to Platform nine and three-quarters. His face and bare arms were covered in scars. Harry watched her watching him, wondering whether he should break the silence.

"I was about to knock on – " began Harry, just as Ginny said "I was coming to see you."

"Let's go inside," Ginny said quietly, opening the door wider to let Harry in the dormitory.

He stepped inside, and instantly remembered the first and only time he'd been in Ginny's bedroom. The dormitory was nothing like her room at the Burrow. Only one of the five beds looked slept in, and Harry knew this must be Ginny's. Apart from this, there were no signs of inhabitance around the bed. Harry remembered she hadn't slept there since Easter. He sat down on the armchair by Ginny's bed, which she sat down on.

She paused for a moment, before speaking. "Why didn't you say goodbye, Harry?"

"Say goodbye? When?" Harry saw the hurt on Ginny's face and felt a stab of pain.

"When you were going to Voldemort. You knew what was going to happen, you knew, or you thought, you wouldn't be coming back. I thought you were _dead. _And you didn't care enough to – " Ginny's voice cracked and a single tear slid down her cheek. " – to say goodbye."

"Ginny," said Harry quickly, flabbergasted. He thought for a moment, trying to find the right words to convey everything he was feeling. He couldn't mess this up. This was _everything. _"I…I didn't say goodbye because I knew you'd convince me not to go. I knew I _needed _to do it, Gin. If I'd spoken to you, I couldn't have done it."

Ginny nodded slowly. "When I saw you, in Hagrid's arms…I thought I was going to die. I _wanted _to die."

"Don't say that, Gin. Don't say that, please - "

"But it's the truth, Harry. Over these past few months, I just couldn't stop thinking about you. _What's he doing? Is he safe? Does he ever think about me? _It's all I could think about. I've missed you so much, but I kept going; I knew you'd come home, when you'd killed _him…_ but then I see you, and I think you're dead…"

Harry sat down on the bed next to Ginny and put his arm around her, pulling her close to him. She put his head on his shoulder and let the tears fall down her cheeks, tears for herself, tears for Harry, tears for Fred and for everyone else who hadn't survived. Harry held Ginny until she stopped crying, and even then he didn't let her go. He buried his face in her hair and breathed in her smell, the smell that was so Ginny, his favourite smell in the world. He didn't realise how much he'd missed it.

Harry knew there were broken pieces. He knew some of them would never be fixed; Fred would never come back. Fred, Ginny's big brother, George's twin; one of the Weasleys. Harry thought the Weasley clan were unbreakable.

Fred would never be forgotten, no matter how many years passed. But Harry knew they could pick up the pieces together. Harry and Ginny, together.

"I love you so much," Harry said quietly. He kissed the top of Ginny's head.

"I love you, too."

Ginny wiped the last tears from her face and looked at Harry. "It's really over, isn't it."

"Yes, Gin. It's over. Or is everything just beginning?"

Ginny let out a small giggle. "You always know when to say a corny line to cheer me up, Harry."

"That's what I'm for." And then he leaned forward and kissed her, for the first time in what felt like years.

When they broke apart, Ginny took a deep breath and she got the 'no nonsense' expression on her face that Harry loved and dreaded in equal amounts.

"Now, Harry, you have to tell me everything that's happened, from the moment you left the wedding until now. And I mean _everything._"

* * *

**A/N I really enjoyed writing that. Hope you enjoyed reading it!**

**If anyone's got any suggestions about ideas to for chapters, please let me know! I've got a lot of ideas, but I do have a LOT more chapters to write until I reach the magic 100 :)**


	28. Eyes

28. Eyes

Harry and Ron looked up at the sign outside the shop, squinting in the sun.

Ron took a deep breath. "Are you ready, Harry?"

"Ron. We're buying engagement rings, not fighting some dark wizard."

"Yeah, but this is a big deal. You know what women are like. An engagement ring is a really big deal to them. Like, they've been dreaming about the perfect one since they were five years old."

"Really?" Harry looked sceptical. "How do you know that?"

"I read it in Witch Weekly."

Harry raised his eyebrows, with an amused grin on his face. "I wouldn't take you for the Witch Weekly type, Ron. Doesn't Hermione like to burn them whenever Fleur leaves one over at your flat?"

The pair had momentarily forgotten about their reason for being at Diagon Alley at this time, and impatient shoppers were pushing them out of their way.

"It was Mum's. She leaves them in the bathroom at the Burrow."

"_Anyway_," Harry began, walking over to the shop window. "Seen as you know everything about engagement rings, what are we supposed to be looking for? I don't want to go in there looking like a total novice."

"Aren't most people going to be a novice when they buy engagement rings, though?"

"Yeah, but some people at least know what to look for. Percy couldn't stop banging on about the _cut, _and the _clarity _of the ring he was going to buy Penelope. What does clarity even mean?"

"I'm really not the person to ask, mate."

"But you read Witch Weekly!"

"It was only the one time!" Ron protested.

Ron peered in the window and looked at the display of jewellery there, including engagement rings. "Look at that one," he said, stabbing at the glass. "That one's alright, isn't it? Hermione would like that one, wouldn't she?"

"Well. Yeah, I suppose. It just looks like all the rest to me," Harry replied doubtfully.

Ron sighed. "I knew we should've brought a girl along."

"Who? I'm proposing to your only sister, and you're proposing to our best friend. Who else is there?"

"Well…" Ron scratched his head and stroked his imaginary beard. "There's…Luna? She knows Hermione and Ginny pretty well."

"Luna would probably have tried to convince us to make them both one out of daisies or something. I think we're on our own for this."

Ron sighed again before looking back in to the window. Neither of them wanted to raise the subject of possibly going inside the shop itself.

"Have you given any thought to what Ginny might like, then?" asked Ron, wrinkling his nose at a ring with a bright yellow jewel, the size and shape of a snitch.

"Well, obviously nothing too big or flashy."

Ron nodded in agreement, as if that much was obvious. "Yeah, Hermione wouldn't want a big one either. I suppose that's a start?"

"So, we'll just go in and say 'one that's not too big, thanks'? I think we need more of an idea than that."

Ron thought for a moment. "Isn't there 4 Cs when you're buying diamonds or something?"

"Yeah. Cut and clarity must be two of them, like Percy said. I think the others are…colour? And carats?"

"Yeah, that's it!"

There was silence for a moment.

"Well…what do they all mean?" asked Ron.

"Colour's pretty obvious, I suppose. What colour do you want to get Hermione?"

Ron looked stumped. "I was just thinking…dunno, normal diamond colour? Clear?"

Harry nodded. "Me too. But I know Ginny likes emerald green, so maybe two emeralds either side of a diamond – "

"That is the most horrific thing ever, by the way. That Ginny's favourite colour is the colour of your eyes."

Harry carried on as if he hadn't heard him. "I wonder if they have one like that."

"One way to find out," said Ron grimly.

He put his hand on the brass door handle and pushed it open. A tinkle ran through the shop, and a male shop assistant walked over to them. "Can I help you?"

Harry and Ron looked at each other, hoping the other would speak first. Ron looked down at his feet, and Harry put his hands in his pockets.

"Well, yes please," Harry began, after it was clear Ron wasn't going to speak. "We're both looking for engagement rings."

"Ahh. What do you have in mind?"

"Just…well, if we're honest, we have almost no idea."

The man smiled. "We can fix that. I'm Harrison Mitchell. It's an honour to meet you both," he said, nodding courteously.

Harry and Ron both nodded their heads in return humbly, as was their custom when somebody said something about 'the honour' or what 'great men' they thought they were.

"Great to meet you too, Mr Mitchell," said Ron, shaking his hand. Harry did the same, and he directed them over to a display of engagement rings.

"Now, Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, I presume you're looking for diamond rings?"

"Yes, I think so," replied Harry, glad to be able to reply to a question with something other than 'not sure'. Ron also nodded.

"Okay, great. Can I ask what you're looking to spend?"

"Well, not a ridiculous amount, but I don't have that much of a limit." Mr Mitchell grinned and unsubtly steered them over to the more expensive rings.

"Take a look at these, I'll just be over here. Let me know if you need anything, anything at all."

"Smarmy git," muttered Ron in Harry's ear as Mr Mitchell walked away.

"He's only trying to help us find a good ring."

"The most expensive, more like. But still, I suppose they are quite – "

Ron broke off, and grabbed his arm. "Doesn't that ring just scream Hermione to you?"

Harry looked down at the ring Ron was pointing at. It was a thin silver band, and a princess cut clear diamond was set into it. It was beautiful, but simple, not flashy; Hermione exactly.

Ron didn't wait for Harry's answer. "It's beautiful. I'll take it!"

Harry continued to look for a ring for Ginny as Ron purchased Hermione's. He walked back over to Harry, the little red velvet box in his jacket pocket, beaming. "I thought that'd take way longer to find the right one! He spent longer talking to me about the 'wonderful clarity' and the number of carats, and all that mumbo jumbo, than I did finding it." He clapped Harry on the back. "Found anything?"

Harry shook his head, frustrated. "Nothing. I really want one with emeralds…"

"Why don't you have a look at the cheaper ones? You know Ginny won't care about the price," Ron suggested. Harry knew he was right – what did the price, and number of carats matter, if he knew Ginny would love it?

He walked over to some other rings, and looked down – and then he saw it. It was perfect. The band was silver, like Hermione's, but the diamond was a thin oval shape, and smaller than Hermione's. Set in to the band on either side of the diamond were two tiny emeralds; Harry knew Ginny would love it, and he instantly knew it was the one. He was surprised as he looked down at the price – it was half of the price of the ring Ron had bought.

Mr Mitchell walked towards him and looked down at the ring Harry was enthralled in, unimpressed. "Yes, that's a pretty one Mr Potter. But just over here, we have some lovely diamonds, they're much – "

"I'll just take this one, please. My girlfriend will love it," Harry said, with such an air of finality that Mr Mitchell didn't try to persuade him otherwise.

He took Harry over to the counter with much less enthusiasm than he did Ron. However, when Harry asked him to not tell anyone he and Ron had been purchasing engagement rings, he agreed immediately, and Harry knew he could trust him.

He was planning to propose to Ginny that evening, and he knew Ron was planning on proposing to Hermione a few days later. He could hardly wait; and Ginny had been hinting hard enough over the past couple of months. Harry knew he needed to propose before Ginny would do it herself.

He couldn't wait.

**A/N Not any Ginny in this one, but I just thought the idea of a clueless Harry and Ron trying to buy engagement rings would make a rather nice little oneshot. Your thoughts? This really didn't fit any of the prompts, but hopefully you made the connection between eyes, and the ring. **

**And yes, before you ask, I will be writing about Harry's proposal very soon :)**


	29. Waiting

**A/N Not the proposal...sorry! It's coming soon though. **

29. Waiting

The youngest Weasley is used to having people leave her. Her big brothers have left her to go to Hogwarts, one by one (or two at once, in the twins' case). And now it was her youngest brother's turn, Ron. Ron was usually beside her when she left the station with her mother. He was as sad as she was. But not this year – this year it was Ron she was waving goodbye to. This year it was Ron whose trolley she insisted on helping to push for the very first time. Ron, who was usually running alongside the train with her. But this time she was alone.

Ginny Weasley has never felt lonely. Who could feel lonely with six brothers? She's never felt lonely until _that _particular September 1st. When she arrived home, she automatically made her way to Ron's bedroom, where the two used to go to talk about what their big brothers would get up to at school. Not this time.

Ginny sat down on her brother's bed and looked at the wall. On it hung a calendar, turned to the September page. September 1st had a huge red ring around it, and every other day had the word _Hogwarts! _written on it in Ron's untidy scrawl. Every other date until Christmas had the same word on it, no doubt.

She knew Harry Potter was on the train to Hogwarts along with Ron. She'd seen him at the station. Ginny hoped Ron would become friends with him. Then he could bring him to the Burrow to visit and she could meet him properly. He would most likely be a Gryffindor, just like every single one of her brothers; including, she's sure, Ron. They will share a dormitory, and go to lessons together. Ron was so very lucky to be born one year earlier than her. It could've been her boarding the train this year, and meeting Harry Potter.

Ginny lay back on Ron's bed and waited. For what, she didn't know. For her mother to call her downstairs for lunch. For an owl to arrive from one of her brothers. For Christmas, when she hoped they would come home again. Maybe she was even lying there waiting for September 1st to come around again, when she knew she would _finally _be getting on the train, joining her brothers and Harry Potter. She wished she could get under the covers of the bed and just sleep until then, so she didn't have to live with the waiting.

All of the next year would just be waiting.

**A/N Not exactly a H&G oneshot, but there was a **_**little**_** bit there! I was going to just post it as a seperate oneshot/drabble type thing, but I thought I might as well include it here. Please leave a review!**


	30. Are You Challenging Me?

**A/N This is set…anytime it would make sense. When they're in their early twenties, maybe? I'm not great at timelines, etc. I'm not sure where they are, either…the Burrow, maybe? Hope you enjoy, and you don't choke on all the fluff. I tried to make it the least cheesy and clichéd I could, but it does slip in there!**

30. Are You Challenging Me?

"Harry!" giggled Ginny as Harry pulled her outside by the hand, grinning. "It's _cold!_"

Harry just smiled and held her gloved hand tighter. Ginny gave in, laughing, and looked around. Snow, at least a foot deep, was covering the ground and hanging frozen from tree branches. No living creature, human or otherwise, had yet walked across the snow, and it was the pure white that could be seen nowhere but snow. It was a cloudy evening, but the stars could just be seen through the mist.

Harry couldn't fully appreciate the beautiful snowy evening that he so seldom saw, however – he was, undeniably, nervous. The little box in his trouser pocket seemed unnaturally heavy. He was absolutely sure about what he was about to do – just not exactly sure about how. The gorgeous snowy evening was an unexpected bonus.

"Let's make a snowman."

"You're rather enthusiastic for someone who didn't want to come outside at all," Harry pointed out.

"Well, you did pull me away from my lovely warm fire," she teased. "But now you've dragged me out here, I might as well get into it!"

"Well…how about we make separate snowmen? See who can build it fastest?" Harry suggested, knowing Ginny would love the competition.

Ginny stepped closer to Harry so they were almost nose to nose, grinning devilishly. "Are you challenging me, Potter?"

"I suppose so, Weasley. On 3…1, 2 - "

But Ginny was already off, packing snow together with the enthusiasm of a seven year old.

"Hey! You cheated," shouted Harry, rolling a snowball along the grass quickly to catch up.

"You were too slow! You snooze, you lose!" Ginny taunted, throwing a piece of snow she deemed not good enough for her snow man at the back of Harry's head. Harry turned round and stuck his tongue out at her.

After five minutes, both snowmen were taking shape.

"Nooo!" Ginny cried as the head of 'Bobby' fell to the floor and split into two pieces. She bent down and tried to shove them back together.

Meanwhile, 'Jimmy', Harry's creation, was still standing, and he put two twigs for arms on either side of the body with a flourish.

"I've finished, Gin!" he called, standing back to admire 'Jimmy'.

"Nooo!" she cried again, turning around to see both Harry and Jimmy side my side, grinning triumphantly – though in Jimmy's case, that was probably just because of the way Harry had arranged the pebbles for his mouth.

"I win! What's my prize?"

He walked over to Ginny and helped her re-attach Bobby's head. "Well…is a kiss sufficient?" She was still slightly grumpy over the fact that she hadn't won.

Harry grinned. "That's the best prize I could ask for."

.x.

The next two hours were spent having snowball fights, demolishing each other's snowmen, and lying in the snow – as well as kissing at regular intervals, of course. Harry wasn't planning anything extravagant; he knew Ginny, and Ginny wouldn't want anything over-extravagant. He hoped his proposal would be the perfect end to a perfect evening.

After badgering from Ginny, Harry agreed to make a snow angel, though he insisted jokingly that it wasn't a '_man's _activity'. When their angels were complete, they stayed on the ground, holding hands and looking at the stars.

Harry sat up, being careful not to make any footprints on his angel. "Ginny."

"Harry," said Ginny, imitating his serious tone. She stood up to inspect her angel. Harry followed suit, and stood in front of her.

He took a deep breath. "I…" He paused, and changed his mind about what he was going to say. "I did have a whole speech prepared, but this evening spoke louder than any words could – and you know I'm not good at remembering speeches. I love you Ginny, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Harry pulled the little box out of his pocket and, opening it, got down on one knee. "Ginny, will you marry me?"

Ginny threw herself at him, knocking him backwards into the snow, and the box fell to the ground next to them. She kissed him passionately before saying "Yes! Yes! I love you, Harry, forever. YES!"

She rolled off him and he picked up the box. He picked up her hand and slid the ring on to her ring finger, and he was thrilled at the sight of Ginny with an engagement ring on her finger, at last.

"Harry! It's so beautiful, I love it," Ginny beamed, tears threatening to fall down her face.

Harry couldn't stop grinning, and he pulled Ginny back on top of him, kissing her once more. Ginny, his _fiancé, _his… everything.

* * *

**A/N Well…that wasn't **_**so **_**cheesy, was it? As always, leave me your reviews, please! I'm so sorry I took such a long time to update. It'll be a week or so until I post another chapter, but I do actually have an excuse this time.**


	31. Night

**A/N This idea was from Nathpollen a while back; I think it's a really cool idea but it's taken me a long **_**long **_**time to actually work out how to write the thing, and I've changed it slightly. It's set (remember Jess, look away now!) in Harry's 6****th**** year during the short time they're going out. It's in Harry's POV, for a change. I need to try and get into the male mindset more often. I'm not sure if you can actually see the Quidditch pitch from the dorm, but you **_**can **_**see it for the purposes of my story. Hope you enjoy, and, as always, leave your reviews!**

31. Night

Waking from a dream – a good dream, a happy dream, a dream of _Ginny_ and her eyes and her face and her laugh and her kiss and her body… – is altogether a different experience from waking after a nightmare. I open my eyes and smile; I always smile. Always. But then I wish I'd never woken up, and try to go back to sleep.

But one evening I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned, and even tried the wizard equivalent of counting sheep – counting gnomes. After at least an hour of lying there, listening to the steady breathing of everyone asleep around me, I pulled away my sheets and picked up my watch, which was on my bedside table. The face was lit by the moonlight streaming in from the crack in the curtains – one o'clock in the morning. I took my glasses from the bedside table and picked up my dressing gown from the floor by my bed, shoved it on and walked over to the window. I looked over to the Quidditch pitch, merely because I had gotten in to the habit; of course, I wasn't expecting to see anyone. But, though I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, I could see a lone figure simply zooming back and forth to either end of the pitch. I could see it was a girl, as her hair was streaming out behind her as she flew. It reminded me of the many times I'd seen Ginny flying. In the past few months, I'd watched Ginny closely – more closely than I'd watched anyone else. It was unmistakably Ginny.

It was definitely my heart instead of my brain that made me walk down the stairs from the dormitory. The thought didn't even cross my mind that Ginny might possibly want to be alone – I just wanted to see her. I wasn't all that surprised to see several fifth years sat around tables in the common room, reading over notes. OWLs started the next Monday, as Hermione liked to remind me whenever I was with Ginny at times she should've been studying

I didn't realise until I was already walking along the corridor that I was walking around the school at night without my invisibility cloak. My desire to see Ginny overruled the realisation that I really should go back and get it. But Ginny had evidently got out of the school unseen – and I'd had plenty of experience with prowling around over the years.

Luckily, I didn't see a single person on my way down to the entrance hall. I did see Peeves, but I ducked in to a classroom before he could see me. I stayed in there, my ear pressed against the door, until the cackling voice singing Weasley is Our King faded away.

The cold air hit me as soon as I began to hurry across the grounds towards the pitch. I pulled my dressing gown tighter around me.

Ginny didn't notice me straight away. I stood on the edge of the pitch and looked up to see her zooming towards the other end, facing away from me. She had been doing laps continuously as I'd walked across the grounds to the pitch, always watching her. It was almost pitch black, but the light from the moon meant I could see her silhouette. Every lap she did, I didn't think she was going to be able to get any faster than she had been the last time – but she always was. Sometimes it was only by a second. I timed it on my watch.

She began to fly back – back towards me – and I stepped out on to the pitch so she'd see me. I almost thought she hadn't noticed me and was going to do another lap, but when she was almost directly above me, she gasped loudly and halted to a stop. I craned my neck to look up at her, probably only about ten feet above me. Her face was hostile at first, but she smiled as she recognised me and dropped a little lower.

"Well, well. Having a midnight stroll?" Ginny called to me.

"Actually, it's way past midnight, Miss Weasley. You ought to be in bed."

"As should you, Mr Potter."

"I couldn't sleep."

"I haven't even tried yet. I was doing some late night revising with all those other idiots who should have done it earlier, but I couldn't take it anymore. I just threw down my quill and ran out of there. It was quite dramatic, actually. You should've seen Colin's face."

I grinned. "I can imagine it. Do you come here often?"

"Not usually at this time, no. It just seemed an appealing idea. What's your story?" She was still hovering in the air above my head, but she dropped down again so she was on level with my face. Now she was closer, I could finally look in to her eyes for the first time.

"I was looking out the window, and I saw you, flying. And I knew it was you, because of your hair."

"My hair? Isn't it too dark to see the colour?"

"Yeah. But it was flying out behind you, like it always does," I explained, reaching up to take a lock of it in my fingers. "I've been watching you, you know."

Ginny smiled. "I know." She looked down to my feet. "Didn't you bring your broom?"

"Oh." It hadn't actually occurred to me to collect my broom. Also, it would have wasted precious time. "Have you got room for two?"

"I have room for _you, _Harry. Hop on."

"Can I steer? You've been having all the fun already."

She landed and slid off the room, handing it to me silently. I mounted it, and she got on behind me, putting her arms around my waist. I loved how close she was. We'd done this a few times before, but never this late at night.

"I love you," she whispered into my ear as I started to fly, gaining height. "I'm glad you couldn't sleep and looked out of the window and saw me and – "

I grinned to myself. "I get it. I love you too." I spoke the words quietly, but the night was silent around us.

I knew better than to fly slowly, so we flew as fast with the two of us on the broom as Ginny had been. We flew aimlessly for half an hour, talking and laughing – and several times Ginny started kissing my neck, which made it difficult to concentrate on steering the broom.

I was the one who insisted on landing and walking back up to the castle – the Hermione in me was telling me that we both had classes the next day (or, really, later in the day) and we'd both be falling asleep at our desks.

I'll never, ever forget that night.

* * *

**A/N **_**Please **_**leave a review! And if anyone has anymore ideas for chapters, I'd love to hear them. **


	32. No Way Out

**A/N Thank you everybody for the reviews, and the ideas! I'll definitely use a lot of them at some point or other. This is one of my own ideas. It takes place straight after Ginny and Harry come back from their 'walk' around the grounds after they get together. Please review.**

32. No Way Out

Harry looked glumly up the stairs to his dormitory. The common room was empty, but there was evidence from the party that had taken place a few hours earlier throughout the room. "Can't you come with me?"

"You know I can't," Ginny replied, laughing, as she put her hands around Harry's neck. "You can face Voldemort, but not my big brother? You have to face him sometime. There's no way out!"

"He might…"

Ginny snorted. "What? He might forbid you from seeing me? Who cares? And you know he won't, anyway. He didn't look like he wanted to _kill _you earlier when you kissed me. Wow, that sounds surreal - 'when you kissed me'." Harry grinned and pulled her closer to him. "Anyway, I'm sure he'll just give you the big brother speech."

"Can I have a – "

"Kiss for good luck? Of course."

He put his hands around Ginny's waist and kissed her. He wrapped his arms around her and never wanted to let her go – but eventually, he knew he had to.

"Good night, Ginny," Harry said quietly, bracing himself for what he knew would be waiting in the dormitory. He knew Ron would still be awake, even though it was far past midnight.

"Night, Harry." He kissed the top of her head, and she headed towards the stairs to her own dormitory. She kept her eyes on Harry as she climbed them, and Harry chuckled at her when she almost tripped. He watched her until she was out of sight, and then walked up the stairs to his dormitory.

When he entered, Neville, Seamus and Dean's beds had their curtains drawn, and Harry could hear them breathing evenly – they were definitely asleep. Ron, as Harry suspected he would be, was sitting up in his bed, a pillow behind his head. He was nonchalantly flipping through a book, pretending to study it; Harry knew he'd just picked it up when he heard Harry coming up the stairs.

"Oh, Harry," he said coldly, pretending to notice him for the first time. "You're here, finally."

Harry didn't know how to respond to this – he shrugged and looked down at his feet.

Ron cleared his throat. "Well. Harry." He paused for a moment. "You're my best mate, but break my sister's heart and I'll break your neck. Got it?"

Harry nodded quickly, so fiercely he thought he might almost have broken his neck himself. "Of course. I really, really care about her."

"Well. That's good, I suppose. I'd rather it be you than that schmuck over there," he said, jerking his head in Dean's direction.

"Yeah. Me too. So…friends?" Harry said nervously.

"Of course we are, you idiot. Just remember what I said. About breakages. And don't snog her in front of me, _please._"

"I won't," he assured him, beginning to undress.

"Good. Can I go to sleep now, because I've been waiting all bloody night for you."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were busy reading your book…" He peered at the cover of the heavy volume on Ron's bedside table. "Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1? Surely you must know everything in this by now, Ron?"

"It was the first one I could find," Ron replied, shrugging. Harry was pleased to feel the tension in the room slipping away.

"Okay then…well, night."

"Night."

Several minutes after Harry had climbed into his bed, Ron murmured his name. "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"I am sort of pleased about you and my sister."


	33. Starvation

33. Starvation

I opened my eyes and squinted in the bright light.

"Oh, you're awake," said a voice somewhere to my right, sounding relieved. "How do you feel?"

I looked around, and realised I was in the hospital – also, I realised the voice belonged to Harry Potter. What was he doing here? And more importantly, what was _I _doing here?

"What happened?" I choked out.

"You got hit by a bludger in practice. You fell off your broom, just out of surprise I think. I slowed you down before you hit the ground, but you were knocked out even so," Harry explained. I looked up at him in a daze. "Are you hurting? Should I get Madame Pomfrey?"

I wiggled my body, my fingers, my toes. Nothing hurt.

"No, no. I'm fine. What time is it?"

"Just after seven."

"Have you had dinner already?"

"No, I've been here since five o'clock. Madame Pomfrey told me you'd be waking up around six, so I came early. Just in case."

"You didn't need to do that, Harry."

"Oh, it's fine," he mumbled, looking down at his shoes and fiddling with his watch strap. "I thought I should. Captain's duties, you know."

"Well, thanks."

"I told Dean he should come with me, but he wanted dinner," Harry said, narrowing his eyes. "He said he'd be here by half past six."

Oh. Dean. My boyfriend. I'd forgotten about him. He should have been there, waiting for me to wake up, shouldn't he? He was my boyfriend. Harry was here, and he was only my brother's best friend. I felt a stab of annoyance. Food was more important than his injured girlfriend?

_Harry _was here. Harry cared. Maybe?

"He was really worried about you when you were unconscious, and we had to carry you up here," he said, as if trying to make up for the fact that Dean wasn't there at that moment. "And the whole team were crowded around your hospital bed, until Madame Pomfrey made us all leave. She fixed you up, no trouble, but she had to give you a potion – for 'rest', she said."

I nodded distractedly, not really listening to what Harry was saying. I was still peeved that Dean hadn't cared enough to be there for me when I woke up.

"I'm pretty hungry," I declared, looking around as if food might materialise.

"Join the club," he replied, grinning. "Do you think Madame Pomfrey would let you come down to dinner?"

Just as he was saying this, Madame Pomfrey herself bustled into the room, shooing Harry away from the bed. He scooted his chair back.

"How do you feel, Miss Weasley? I hear you fell from quite a height, apparently," she said.

"I feel fine. Perfect. Spiffing, one might even say."

She flicked her wand up and down my body, muttering spells. I'm not sure what this determined exactly, but she seemed satisfied with the results; she let me leave with Harry.

"So, dinner?"

"Dinner."

* * *

**A/N I know, I know. It's been a while since I updated. I won't bore you with excuses. What do you think of this chapter? Just a little bit of Dean bashing, and showing how Harry would've been a much better boyfriend for her throughout her fifth year :) Please review.**


	34. Flowers

**A/N 'What's this?' I hear you cry. 'I thought she'd disappeared off the face of the planet!' No, folks, just disappeared from fan fiction (and the computer in general) for a while. I am back, however, and I hope you like this chapter. I wasn't really happy with it so I spent a long time tweaking it (like, two months) but I think I've got it right now. Hope you enjoy it! **

34. Flowers

The darkness consumed Harry as he ran, closing in on him until he thought he was going to suffocate. At that moment, dark was all he knew. He didn't know why or where he was running; was he even moving at all? There was nothing to judge if he was getting closer to something. There was nothing. Nothing except the darkness that seemed to stretch out so far in front of him, yet also no distance at all…

Harry's eyes snapped open. His body was drenched in sweat and his breathing was haggard. Dark still surrounded him, but it was not so intense. Not so suffocating.

Vague shapes were all he could make out: a small table directly to his left, a tall bookcase, a bulky dressing table scattered with bottles and pots. Everything was as it should be – except there was no warm body next to him. Well, of course. That was the reason for his nightmare.

Three years had passed since Lord Voldemort's demise, yet nightmares still haunted Harry as he slept, nightmares as vague as tonight's. In the first two years, when Harry had slept alone at night, he'd had these nightmares every night. But when Ginny moved in with him, the bad dreams had slipped away.

Now, these nightmares only happened when Ginny was not beside him as he fell asleep. She kept the nightmares at bay.

Harry pushed his covers aside and shoved his glasses roughly on to his face, poking himself in the eye as he did so. He took the short letter he had left on his bedside table that evening.

_So sorry, love. Persephone is being a basket case again and insisting we need to go over tactics for next week's game. I have no idea when I'll be back, but you'd better be asleep when I am. You have work early tomorrow, remember._

_Harry, if you have a nightmare, promise to owl me. I'll come home in an instant if you need me. _

_Love you._

Persephone's demands for late night tactic meetings - that often continued until three or four o'clock in the morning - were always met with irritation from Ginny. As Persephone, captain of the Holyhead Harpies, liked to remind Ginny, Quidditch is a twenty four hour job, and if she wanted her spot on the team she would attend every tactics meeting Persephone held.

The first time Ginny returned from a meeting – and the first time Harry had slept alone in months – she had found him writhing and shouting in his sleep.

Ginny had vowed she would never leave him at night again, Persephone be damned. Of course, Harry had insisted otherwise, and told her he was fine - it was a one off.

Ginny needed convincing, but when Persephone called the next middle of the night tactics meeting, a month later, she had gone. She gave Harry explicit instructions to send her an owl if he needed her.

He never did, of course. It was the one thing in their relationship – their lives, in fact – that Harry was not honest with Ginny about; the fact that his nightmares would return without her there. He did not want to see the worry in her beautiful brown eyes again.

He always woke before Ginny returned, always drenched in sweat and out of breath, as if he really had been running. He pretended to be asleep when she tiptoed in to the room in the early morning.

And always, as her flowery scent reached his nose when she climbed in to bed, Harry knew he would dream only peaceful dreams for the rest of the night. His Ginny had returned, and his world was complete again.

*

Less than one week later, Harry received another owl. He knew what it would be before he opened it, because Ginny was already an hour late in arriving home from work.

_She's done it again, Harry! I can't believe it…well, I can. She's almost as neurotic a captain as you were. Joking, love, joking. But in all seriousness, I'm going to be so tired for the match in two days that I'll fall off my broom in exhaustion._

_I love you. Owl me, please, if you have any bad dreams. Or if you just need me._

He crumpled the parchment under his fingers before instantly smoothing it our again. He hoped every night that by looking at Ginny's messages before he slept, it would be enough to keep the nightmares away. It never was.

Harry took as much time as possible delaying sleep; leafing through the Prophet for a second time as he sat up in bed, looking over some papers from his work in the Auror office. But eventually, his droopy eyelids defeated him and he turned out the lights.

He was running through the darkness again, trying to get away from its suffocating grasp. He couldn't escape. Far, far away, Harry was sure he could hear cold laughter…

"Harry! Harry!"

This was a completely different voice. It was a frantic voice, a worried voice, accompanied by a flowery scent that was enough to sooth him slightly. He opened his eyes.

Ginny. Ginny was back, before he had woken from his nightmare. He was torn between utter happiness at seeing her, and worry. It felt like he'd been doing something naughty and he'd been caught in the act.

"Ginny…"

"Look at you, Harry!" she said, her voice cracking. She lay down beside him and he put his head on her shoulder. She stroked his hair as his breathing slowed.

"Harry, are you okay?" It pained him to hear the anguish in her voice.

"Yes, I…I'm fine," he replied unconvincingly.

"Harry. You're shaking," she stammered. "I could hear you shouting as soon as I apparated in to the flat."

"I had a nightmare. And…"

"Yes?" Ginny smoothed his hair back off his clammy forehead.

"It's not the first time."

She sat up swiftly and Harry's head fell on to the pillow. He sat up too and looked at her. "There have been other nightmares? Since the one after my first tactics session?"

"Yes," he sighed.

"How often?"

"Ginny – "

"How often, Harry?" Her voice was forceful but she didn't sound angry.

"Everytime you've been away at night. I get nightmares whenever you're not next to me as I fall asleep."

"_Everytime?_" She took Harry's hand. "But that's at least once a month!"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me?" she cried, but taking his other hand as she did so.

"I didn't want to worry you," Harry replied. "It's not that bad, Ginny. They'll stop soon, I know they will. I just need time."

"I wish you'd told me earlier," Ginny said, pulling Harry back down to lie on the bed. They lay on their sides facing each other.

"I know, I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise!" she said so sharply Harry wanted to say sorry again. "_I'm _sorry, I should have been with you every night – "

"Ginny, stop." He put a finger to her lips and she kissed it. "It's not your fault in the slightest."

"Well, I'm never going to one of Persephone's night long tactics sessions again, that's for sure."

"You have to go. The nightmares are fine, I can handle it – "

"No," she replied forcefully. "I don't want to leave you."

"But you have to."

"No, I don't."

Harry sighed. "Let's talk about it in the morning. You need to sleep."

Ginny looked like she was going to argue otherwise, but she agreed silently with a nod of her head. She brought her lips to his and kissed him softly.

She turned so her back was to Harry's chest and pressed up close to him. Her hair tickled his face and he caught some of her flowery, Ginny-scent. He buried his face in her hair and put his arm around her waist.

"Aren't you going to change out of your robes?" he mumbled quietly.

"Harry, nothing could make me leave this bed right now. I love you."

"I love you too. Night."

He fell in to a deep sleep and dreamt happy dreams of Ginny. As long as she was there, nothing could trouble him.

**A/N So sorry this took a long time. This chapter is one of my longest, if that's consolation to anyone. Please please please review!**


	35. Sorrow

35. Sorrow

"Why can't I go, Mum?" Lily whined, watching her father help James haul his trunk up the steps.

"I'm going before you are," said Albus, sticking out his tongue. Lily stuck her own out back and narrowed her eyes. Albus argued less with his sister than he did with James, but like all siblings, they had the pettiest of squabbles extremely often.

"You both get to go soon," said Ginny cheerfully, though inside she felt a twinge of sadness as she spoke. It was bad enough having to say goodbye to James, her biggest baby. How was she going to manage in three years when she had to say goodbye to all three of them at the same time?

"Not soon enough," grumbled Albus, and Lily nodded in agreement, their argument five seconds earlier already forgotten.

Harry and James stepped off the train, the latter with an unconvincing smile on his face.

"All ready, James?" said Ginny, her voice wobbling. Harry put his arm around her shoulder.

"Yep."

"I'm going to miss you so much," said Ginny, sticking out her bottom lip, looking uncannily like her daughter.

"I'll miss you too, Mum," James mumbled, looking around surreptitiously for anyone who might overhear him. "You'll write every few days, won't you?"

"Of course we will."

Ginny pulled James in to a hug and crushed him tightly to her.

"_Mum_, gerroff!" he grumbled, though he made no attempt to pull away.

"You be good, James," she said, even though she knew he wouldn't be.

James just smiled and didn't answer her. He moved over to his father who hugged him almost as tight as his mother had.

"Have a great time," Harry said.

"I will. I hope so…" He bit his lip and worry flashed across his face. "But Dad…what if I don't make any friends?" he lowered his voice so that only his parents could hear him. "Albus will have Rose, and Lily will have Hugo. I don't have anyone. Why did Ron and Hermione have to wait a year longer than you to have kids?"

"James, of course you'll make friends. Everyone feels like that on their first day," said Harry. "But can I give you one bit of advice?" James nodded eagerly. "Be careful who you make friends with. Some people will want to be friends with a Potter, and some people will want to be friends with _James. _When I started Hogwarts, I knew which people wanted to be friends with me, and not just my surname. And look what good it did me." He smiled at Ginny.

James understood what his father was saying, and was glad for the advice. However, he didn't really believe people would only want to be friends with him because he was a Potter. His father was the famous one, after all. And were people really that shallow? Surely not.

"Thanks, Dad. I'll assess everyone I meet before I say hello. I can ask them what their intentions are too, if that would make you feel better?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Just think about what I said, James."

James hugged his brother, and had moved to hug his sister when Ginny pulled all five of them in to a family hug that would've made James laugh had he been a stranger watching them. Thankfully, most students were already on the train.

The whistle blew and James pulled away from his family's hold. Ginny kissed him on the cheek and he leapt swiftly up the steps to the train. It began to move and James waved until the train was out of sight.

Ginny was still waving after the train had left the station, unshed tears in her eyes. Harry grabbed her hand and pulled it gently down.

"Come on, honey," he said, putting his arm around her waist. "Let's go. He'll be fine."

"Okay," Ginny replied, wiping her eyes.

The four of them walked out of the station, and Ginny began writing out her first letter to James in her head.

**A/N The idea of sending James off to school for the first time was from **_**magic sparkler**_** – thanks! :) Hope Ginny wasn't too…I can't think of the right word. Sentimental? That's just how I'd imagine anyone being when they send their first child off to boarding school. Not sure about this chapter...seems to lack _something. _Thoughts? As always, please leave a review!**


	36. Hold My Hand

36. Hold My Hand

I thought I might explode from excitement if Harry didn't arrive soon…he was exactly two minutes late home from work. He should know better than to be late at a time like this!

"Come _on_," I moaned as I stared at the clock, willing Harry's hand to move from work to travelling. The clock is exactly like the one at the Burrow. Soon, we'd have to add a third hand…

_Pop. _Harry appeared in front of me and I had him in a tight hug before he knew what was happening.

"Nice to see you, too," he said happily, though obviously surprised. He stepped back and looked at me, curious. Did I already have _the _glow? Did he already know…? "I had the worst day at work today. You know Greenley, that idiot in the office next to mine? Well, he – "

"Harry. Shush for a second." Obviously, he didn't know. "I have something to tell you."

"Good or bad?" He pulled back a kitchen stool and sat on it, and I sat in the one next to his.

"Good. Definitely good. Hold my hand and take a deep breath."

"What is it?" he asked, chuckling.

"I'm pregnant!"

The biggest smile I think I've ever seen spread across his face and he jumped up from his seat, pulling me with him. He put his arms around my waist and hugged me tightly.

"You're finally pregnant? With a baby? It finally happened?" he said without letting me go.

"No, Harry, I'm pregnant with a hippogriff. YES, a baby!"

Harry released me from a hug only to take my face in his hands and kiss me.

"I took a test about an hour ago," I told him, fighting the urge to jump up and down. "Positive!"

We'd been trying to have a baby for months – almost a year. Everytime I did the test – which was a simple incantation I might've performed more times by now than an Expelliarmus – it came out negative, and each time felt like a stab to my heart. We'd been to a specialist, and she'd said all we could do was try.

Today, when I took the test and saw it was positive…I was sure it was a mistake. How, after all this time could I finally be pregnant? But the test is one hundred percent accurate. As soon as it had sunk in, I cried tears of happiness. _We're having a baby._

"Ginny, I love you so much. And I'm going to try to be the best dad to that little boy or girl there's ever been. You'll be an amazing mum without even trying."

"I'm so excited," I squealed, squeezing him tighter.

We were finally having a baby. A family. The Potters…


	37. Multitasking

Multitasking

"I don't want to get into trouble with Hermione," said Harry, standing up for the third time since he'd arrived in the library many hours ago. Usually he wasn't so eager to spend time in the big, stuffy room, but lately he'd been having to force himself to walk out the door. It wasn't the books he was so unenthusiastic to leave, as was often the case for Hermione. No, it was the girl next to him. "I've been a distraction."

"Nonsense, you don't need to go yet," Ginny replied. She dragged him back down onto the seat next to her, though not much dragging was needed. Sheets of parchment and thick copies of books that Harry himself had perused many times before were spread across the desk Ginny and Harry were sat at.

"Why do I have to be studying for OWLs _now, _when you only just saw sense and finally realised I was the only girl for you!" Ginny complained, stabbing her quill on the desk top.

"_Me_?" Harry said. "You were the one dating someone else until several weeks ago, and there was me sitting around alone pining for you."

"Pining?"

"Yes."

"You were not pining for me, Potter."

"Well, maybe not literally pining. Anyway, this is wasting even more time."

"Yeah, it is," Ginny replied, though she didn't look back down at her books. "But time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."

"So if I just sit here and stare at you for hours, that won't be wasted time?"

"If you enjoyed looking at me, then that's not wasted time."

"How could anyone not enjoy looking at you, Gin?"

Ginny blushed, which was surprising to Harry, who thought Ginny Weasley didn't _get _embarrassed. She bent down over the desk to look at a book and her hair fell over her face like a curtain. "Lower your voice, or Madame Pince will realise we're still here and throw us out. And stop distracting me, Harry."

"I can't help it," he said simply.

There was silence for several minutes except the occasional scrape of Ginny's quill. The library was empty apart from the two of them, as it was the early hours of the morning and even the fifth years had retired to the common room. Ginny felt she needed to stay longer to make up for the lack of revising she had been doing, but the later she and Harry stayed, the less she wanted to revise and the more she wanted to just talk with him.

Ginny knew that if she failed any of her exams, Harry would blame it on himself, and would most likely spend days beating himself up over it. For that reason only, Ginny decided she'd banish him from the library tomorrow.

"Gin…"

"Hmm?"

"Have you ever wondered how long two people can kiss without having to break apart for air? Because it's been on my mind for the past five minutes, and I'd really like to figure out the answer."

Ginny smiled, but only because she knew her hair was covering her face and Harry wouldn't see it. "You're being a distraction again."

"Sorry." And he did sound genuinely sorry, but it was a sort of 'Sorry, but I'm going to keep doing it anyway.'

"Are you not going to help me find out the answer to my question, then?" he continued.

"Madam Pince is only through there, I'm sure she'll help you answer your question. She's always asking if she can help with anything," Ginny teased, flicking through a textbook without reading a word of it. Her brain wasn't going to register anything else tonight.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. You see, I'd much rather you help me figure out the answer."

"I'm revising," she lied, looking down at the page, her grinning face still hidden by a curtain of hair. Harry leant over and swept it back off her face, tucking it behind her ear. She kept her eyes firmly on the book, reading the same sentence four times.

"Ginny, don't taunt me like this. I can't make it anymore obvious that I want you to kiss me."

"Sorry Harry, what did you say? I was reading a particularly interesting passage. There's these gnomes, you see, and they did some pretty spectacular stuff in the thirteenth century."

"I said I want you to – "

Before he could finish, Ginny had jumped on to his lap and brought his face to hers. Maybe revising could wait for tomorrow.

**A/N Thought it was about time for a nice fluffy chapter! Thanks a lot for all the reviews, as always.**


	38. Triangle

38. Triangle

I was finally drifting off to sleep when the dormitory door opened and then shut hard, slightly harder than was completely necessary.

"Anyone awake?" I heard Dean say, loud enough to ensure that anyone was wasn't awake definitely was now.

As I sat up, two mumbled 'yeah's came from across the room. I shoved my glasses on my face, squinting as the previously pitch-black dormitory flooded with light.

"It's late," said Seamus, checking his watch and rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah," Dean replied as he began to get undressed. "I was with Ginny."

My body stiffened as he spoke, the smarmy, suggestive tone in his voice undeniable. I instantly felt not only wide awake, but also eager to grab my wand and hex Dean into next Tuesday. _I just feel protective_, I tried to drum into my brain. _That's all. _

"You're lucky Ron's not here," said Neville, glancing towards the empty bed that wasn't Dean's. Ron was still in the hospital recovering from being poisoned in Slughorn's office and – not for the first time – I found myself wishing he were well again. _Then maybe he could rip Dean limb from limb, save me a job…_

"Yeah," Dean replied, laughing, and the sound made my skin crawl. "I don't think he'd want to hear about it."

"Neither do we, so shut up and go to sleep," I found myself saying, trying to keep a joking tone to my voice – trying and failing, if the look on Dean's face was anything to go by.

"What's your problem?"

"Nothing. I just want to go to sleep."

"Fine."

He got into bed and a second later the room was dark again. But after several minutes, Neville's voice broke the tension-filled silence that had fallen.

"You didn't…you know…go all the way?"

I felt my fists clench under the sheets.

"No," Dean replied, his voice suggesting that his answer would be very different if it were up to him. "But we were close. Really close, believe me."

"How about you go say that to Ron, see where it gets you?" I shouted, sitting up again. _She's your best mate's sister, _I told myself as I tried to unfurl my still clenched fist.

"What is wrong with you, mate?"

"You shouldn't talk about girls like that." Once again, I was resisting the urge to grab my wand.

He snorted. "Who are you, my mother?"

"No, just Ginny's – "

"Ginny's what? Brother? I don't think so. Boyfriend? I really don't think so, mate."

"I'm Ginnys…friend," I replied hesitantly, realising with a pang how much I'd like to be able to put the word 'boy' before 'friend'.

"So? I can talk about what I do with my girlfriend however I damn please."

"And Ginny would be okay with that, would she?"

"Piss off, Harry."

I stuck up my middle finger and let my head fall back down onto the pillow. The room was silent again, but the voices inside my head were deafening.

_She's your best mate's sister…_


End file.
